Our Secret River
by hay000ride
Summary: No wings, just highschoolers. Max is forced to move to california with her dad and she meets Fang at highschool. No matter how much she was against the move at first, she slowly starts to realize this is the answere to her prayers. Best friends, love....
1. Chapter 1

FANFIC

Chapter 1:

Fang's Point of View:

I tossed and turned in my dazed dream. I was asleep, but I was contious. I was there but I wasn't. I was present, but soon I would slowly, painfully, and hopefully drift into another world. Sweat drenched my head. I could feel it coming. My eyes squeezed shut and my teeth clamped down preparing for the upcoming agony. Soon my mind would be unavailable to my reach. But replaced with a strangers'. Someone I've never known, never met, and never could find no matter how hard and persistently I searched. Soon I would be there. But getting there would be a pain filled journey.

Just as expected the pain spread from my chest slowly towards my broad shoulders and hips. Outward in every direction. The pain leaped out over my olive skin, seeped deep into my bones, and shattered my muscles. The inflictive pain touched me everywhere. My head pushed harder into my pillow as I nearly shredded my blanket to pieces.

I was almost there! The numbness would come! It would come! Please come!

In a single moment the pain melted out of my body. It vanished.

Numbness.

I was paralyzed for the moment. My entire world was numb. I was detached from my mind and body. I was pulled from the warmth of my bedroom, the safety of my home, and away from my life.

In the millisecond it took me to blink my eyes, I was in somebody else's world.

I could see threw her... but it was intangible.

She was facing a man. It was so foggy. I couldn't tell what was what.

That's what I hated about my flashes the most! I couldn't tell anything apart and I only had four senses. Ya well of course I could see...barely. I could also smell, feel, and taste. Actually...taste...I'm not...really...sure. She's never eaten anything when I was in her mind. At least I think it's a she. But hear? Definitely not. It's like I was watching television but it was on mute. It was quit irritating. Especially when you don't even know what the show is about. It's like you've spent you're whole life watching this seasonal show but you could never comprehend anything.

It was like a different culture. Like an entire other language.

My visibility started blinking in and out.

She was looking at a man. He was...tall. He had...brown or dark features? He was angry? Upset? Sad?

I went black, then it was just...rain?

No no no! It was becoming more blurry by the second!

What? Why?


	2. Chapter 2

Max's Point of View:

'There I sat. In a quiet, white walled hallway. My gaze was lost in the tan patterns of the illuminant floor.

The hospital was deserted due to the late hour. All I could hear was pure silence. But in that silence, I knew. I knew something was going on behind that wall that nobody could prevent. Something he wouldn't let me see. Something he wouldn't let me know or be a part of. He thought I didn't understand. But I did. He thought I was so young, innocent, unknowing, and basically...stupid.

But I wasn't.

I knew exactly what was going on behind there, but he wouldn't let me see. I wanted to see. I wanted to know what happened at the point of death, but...no. He wouldn't let me see.

After a few moments I heard the door open. Actually I didn't know the door was even open until he was standing in front of me, hunched with tears in his eyes. His cheeks were still dry, but his eyes were glossed over with about and inch of tears.

He wouldn't let them fall.

I looked up at him. His tall figure, dark eyes and dark hair. I could barely recognize my own father because of his tears.

He stood there uncertain. Then he looked at me...just looked at me.

I knew what he was thinking:

"How do I tell her?" "How do I do this alone?" "How will we make it?"

Well to tell you the truth I was eight and I didn't know any of those answers either.

And what did I do? I just looked back. I kept looking back. I looked until he broke down. He crouched down and hugged me. His eyes finally giving. Tears dripping.

He squeezed me tighter and tighter until I was gripping him with the same strength. My tears finally gave way down to my chin. Mostly because the sight of my father, and a little because my mother had just passed away.'

I sat on the ground with my knees pulled to my chest remembering. I stared blankly out the front window of my house into the pouring rain. And when I said pouring I really meant pouring. That's what it's like up here in Bremerton, Washington I guess. Rain, rain, and more rain. But that's fine with me because I loved the rain. And something that really gets on my nerves is when people say rain depresses them. That's totally untrue. It did the opposite of depressing me. It made me feel, cozy and happy. Like none of it could ever touch me because I was surrounded by my home.

But my coziness and happiness flew right past my dad when he opened the front door...They would be gone for quit awhile. Then I felt depressed.

We were moving...to California. Where it never rains.....


	3. Chapter 3

Fang's Point of View:

Ok. So now you know that I have a few special power things. The invisibility... that happened when I was really little and my parents couldn't find me. Then poof there I was. Nobody really knows about it because my family mostly decided to keep 'our little secret'. Which is fine with me because I didn't really want people to know that I was a freak.

Ya I live in California, which you would think had a LOT of freaks, but really I live in the city of Walnut Creek which is kind of normal. Kind of.

Our high school, Acalanes Union High School, was smaller than most high schools. And everybody mostly knew everybody. Everybody knew me. Fang. The star basketball player or whatever...yada yada yada. I didn't really like being noticed like that but I was. I've played ever since I was little. I prefer basketball much more than football. My dad tried to get me to play just like he did but...you know...I never really had a thing for tackling other guys. Not my style. My dad was ashamed for what seemed like forever, but he eventually got over it. It was something along the lines of his only son not following the path of his father... whatever.

Thank God I have my mother and little sister Angel. My mom has always been for letting me do the things I want to do. Which is basketball. And she lets Angel do volleyball. Angel's only in 7th grade and she just started playing, and she loves it more than anything. She was devastated when she didn't make varsity. But I kept telling her that she had the rest of high school to play. She eventually got over it.

I live in this little neighborhood with a little (kind of secret river) that I always sneak out to. Just to think.

So after that flash I just had...I had to sneak out and think. So I rolled out from under my comforter and slipped on some ripped jeans and gray sweatshirt. Nothing fancy. I lazily tied my laces on my black converse and slipped on my invisibility. I snuck out the door and up the stairs from my basement to the garage door and down the street.

It probably wasn't even necessary for me to have on my invisibility because it was like 2:30 in the morning on a Wednesday, but I might as well.

I quietly walked pass a couple of my neighbor's houses and went through a tiny tiny forest to my river. Not a lot of people knew about it so I just assumed I was pretty much the only person that knew about it.

I sad on the rocky edge and stuffed my cold hands into my sweatshirt pocket. It was freezing. I could feel my face getting pale and my nose getting red. And I could see the fog of my breath. I just sat and watched the silent ripples of the waves pass by thinking of the significance of my flash.

It's hard to explain...and I've never really talked to anybody about them before in my life. Not my mom, dad, or Angel. Not even my best friend Derik. And trust me. We talk about everything. He even knows about my invisibility. And no we do not have a bromance thing going on. We're just really close.

As I sat I thought of the possibilities of the flash. I've had this thought over and over again in my mind. Who was she? What did she have to do with me? Can she through me too?

Seconds turned to minutes, which turned into hours and I saw the sun starting to rise. Shit. I stood up and started walking home. A little quicker this time to make sure nobody thought I was missing. Dad probably wouldn't check on me but I couldn't take the chance.

After I slipped back into my house I looked at the clock. 6:50. Shit again. School started in 40 minutes. I took a quick shower and put on what I was basically wearing earlier, shoved some basketball clothes into my doufle bag and threw it into my passenger seat and drove off to school.

Well there's one thing I know, and that it that I will not be able to focus and I am going to be super super tired. Great.


	4. Chapter 4

Max's Point of View:

I was sitting in the center of my room surrounded in boxes. I had just finished packing my volleyball gear when my dad knocked on the door.

"What" I said rudely.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Whatever."

The door opened slowly and he stood there in front of me looking around my room. At it's...emptiness. You could see the huge faded square of where my tack board used to be. It was always loaded with pictures of friends, and my mom. But none of my dad. He knew I didn't like him. We got along until my mom (his wife) died. Then we just slowly drifted apart, but we were still nice to each other. But since his pronunciation of our moving to Walnut Creek California, two states away from home, I've been as cruel to him as I possibly could be.

"Do you want help with some of those boxes? We've got to get them into the uhaul...Did you miss anything?" He asked uncomfortably. No matter how much he knew I didn't like him, he still acted like I was his sweet little angel.

"Yes and no I didn't miss anything." I said rudely once more.

"Ok," he finished. And silently we found a way to shove everything into the uhaul safely. He eyed the shoulder bag I had on that my mom got me in Jamaica and asked, "Carry on?".

"Ya." He nodded swiftly before speaking to the driver of the uhaul once more and sending him on his was, then getting into the drivers side of our jeep to start on out 14 hour journey to california. Yay.

I don't understand why he wouldn't just let me drive the jeep while he drove the uhaul to save money. I mean I'm seventeen and I have my license. I don't understand the problem. He just kept saying it was fine and that I didn't need to drive. My car was already at our house down there. (He drove it down and flew back up.) I haven't even seen the house yet, but he keeps saying that I'll love it.

We'll see.

As we started the drive I dug out my ipod from my bag, pushing aside all of my sketching books to find it at the bottom. Ya I loved to sketch. My dad was always suspicious of what I drew but I never showed him. And I'm not trying to brag or anything but I was amazing at drawing. It was one of my talents. Besides volleyball.

"You're going to like it," he said suddenly, "trust me. I know you're sad and you're leaving you're volleyball team and you're friends. But you'll make knew friends. You're smart, outgoing, funny, and beautiful. I don't know what you think the problem is. My company is relocating, and there is nothing I can do. We wouldn't be moving if it hadn't. You know that." He finished.

I paused, rethinking of what he has told me over and over again. Ya I could make new friends if I wanted to, but I don't. I love my friends I already have. Had.

My eyes started tearing up after thinking about my going away party and everything I was leaving behind, so I jammed my head phones in my ears and rolled down the window to let my long long, dark brown, curly hair flow around my face just to avoid conversation.


	5. Chapter 5

Fang's POV:

The day went by so slow. First period dragged on and on. I tried to keep my eyes open. Especially because the first day of basketball tryouts were starting today. On Wednesday. Yay. Only some sarcasm. It was going to be a huge work out but I was already guaranteed a spot on varsity since I've already been on varsity since I was a freshman. Two years in a row isn't bad, but let's hope I make it three.

During lunch, Derik and I hopped in my car really fast and drove to the nearest gas station so I could buy about 5 monsters. Unhealthy I know. But I needed it. It was my secret energy weapon.

When we got back onto school grounds we got out of my car and started walking back to the cafeteria with my monsters in hand only to have Lissa stop me. Dear god help me.

"Soooo...monsters huh? Another big night. What were you up to?" She asked annoyingly.

"None of your business." Derik chimed in for me. She glared at Derik, and he just glared straight back. Derik is the only other person that hates Lissa as much as I freaking do.

"I wasn't talking to you Derik. I was talking to Fang." She replied.

"I wasn't really doing anything. Just a sleepless night that's all." I said cooly. Derik can be mean when he wants to be. But for me it's a little bit different. I'm not really a mean guy. And don't let the dark scary look fool you. Yes I have a lip piercing, and I can look like the devil if I want to. But I can't just be randomly mean to somebody. Get my drift?

"Oh. Well good luck at the basketball tryouts. Not that you really need any." She said.

"Sure" I replied. "We have to go or we're going to be late for fourth period. Bye."

She smiled flirtingly and watched us walk back into the building.

"Dear lord." Was all that Derik said before the bell rang and we were on our way to 4th period.

During fifth period I chugged all of my monsters since basketball was only two periods away. By the end of the day I was so hyper. The boys changed in the locker room really fast and we were out in the gym running suicides before we knew it.

By the end of practice 15 guys were already asked to leave because they were so out of shape. After coach blew his whistle, we all dropped to the floor panting. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Once about 3 minutes passed by we hit the showers and practice was over.

I was leaving at about 7 with a bunch of the other guys when my monsters was really starting to wear off. So I got into my car and drove home and without even touching my homework or taking off my jeans, I was passed out on top of my comforter. Basketball had officially began.


	6. Chapter 6

Max's POV:

We drove through the night and my dad didn't fall asleep once. He seemed to be in deep thought the entire drive. I rested my head on the open window and slept only a few hours. But the window was open the whole drive and he didn't even speak a word. … Maybe he was really trying his best.

When the sun started to rise I looked at my dad and then at my dead battery on my ipod. I rolled the window up and put my ipod away. Then my dad just glanced at me then back at the road with a brief little smile on his lips.

We stopped somewhere in northern California for breakfast and was on the road once again. But this time there was a little conversation.

"So volleyball tryouts start on Monday." My dad said expectantly and hopefully.

"I'm not playing."

"Why? You're amazing at it. You can't just stop what you love." he replied.

"I love it when I'm playing with my own team." Ouch that was a little bit harsher than I wanted it to sound.

"Well I really want you to get out there and do something. But I'm not going to push you. I think you'll give in eventually."

"Sure" I replied. There is no way I would ever play volleyball without my own home team that I've been with for two years. How can he just expect me to just start over?

The rest of the drive was silent. We pulled off the freeway and passed the sign that said, 'Welcome to Walnut Creek'. Ugh

We drove through the town and it was...nice. It was open and free. Warm. I saw highschoolers riding on their skateboards and bikes.

"Told you it was a nice area." My dad interrupted.

I didn't say anything. I just kept starring out the window. We eventually pulled off into a neighborhood and pulled up to a yellow house.

I sat in the car and just looked. It was cute. My dad opened his door, stepped outside and stretched his legs and arms. I followed and grabbed my bag and just stood there.

I turned to my dad, "I'm not playing for another team" I said.

"Sure." Was all he said. "Your room is the one upstairs. Go check it out."

I passed through the little wooden gate and up the front steps and into the house.

I liked it.

It was kind of open and fresh. There were two bedrooms. Dad knew that I would like the one upstairs. I walked up the stairs and there was a purple painted bedroom and a small bathroom. Sweet. I get my own bathroom...Yes! And a little balcony. This is so cool. I dropped off my bag then went downstairs to tell my dad I loved it but he was talking to the uhaul driver and already taking boxes out of the back.

He looked at me expectantly holding a few boxes, "Well?" He asked.

"It's cool" I replied, playing my 'I hate everything' card.

He saw right through that. "Good. Want to start setting up your room?"

"Ya."

A few hours later most of our stuff was unpacked but there were still boxes everywhere. We decided to take a break and drive up to the school and get me registered.

When we got there I realized it wasn't as huge as I thought it was going to be. It was colorful and also very fresh. It's hard to explain. But it was....also amazing.

We went to the main office and talked to a few separate secretaries and the principal. During our talk with the principal my eyes kept lingering to the volleyball sign up forms in a pocket on the wall. After we were done talking I slipped one in my bag secretly.

You know. Just incase.

Dad and I were organizing all of the stuff we unpacked when he asked, "Are you excited for school on Monday?'

"Um. Not really."

"You'll do fine." He looked at me, "You know you will."

Will I do fine? I hope so. What if nobody like me? I mean what if they don't like long dark hair, or black nail polish. Don't Californians only like bleached blond hair? Great, now I'm freaking out more than I was before.


	7. Chapter 7

Fang's POV:

It was Friday. Thank the lord. I'm gonna go home and sleep. No basketball for two whole days. Yes.

I was sitting at lunch with Nudge and Mike. We were having a normal conversation until Derik walked up and had a very excited look on his face.  
"What?" I asked.

"Oh nothing nothing. It's just that we have a brand new student coming on Monday. Girl too." He said with a grin on his face. "God I hope she's not some freak. I hope she's hot so I can work some of my skills on her...If she's hot." He rambled on.

"You sound like such a virgin you know that?" I asked.

"Shut up. And you aren't?'" He said jokingly.

"Yes. But it doesn't really matter to me. But to you, it's life or death. That's what makes it so funny." I said.

"Ya you and your weird policy thing Fang. Whatever. I hear she is smoking. Some people say they saw her yesterday registering and she was the hottest thing on the damn block." He rambled and rambled. Don't get me wrong, Derik is my best friend but I do have to deal with his sexism.

"Do we even know anything about her?" I asked, trying to get off the line of how sexy she was.

Nudge chimed in, "I hear she's from far away. Like a few states or something."

"How do you know that?" asked Mike.

"Things spread." she answered.

And the day carried on with Mike talking about how he would use his magic and blablabla.

Before I knew it, it was the weekend. It was about 4pm on Saturday and I was still asleep when I awoke really abruptly. Pain quenched my body.

No way.

Not two flashes in a week. That's just not possible. It's never happened before.

My teeth clamped together and I curled my hands into fists as my mind began to wonder. And I was gone.

'There was a house. It was purple. It looked rather familiar. But why. Things were a little bit more clear in this flash. Then she was inside. What's going on? I could see her reaching out for something. A piece of paper or something. A form?'

Instantly it went black and I knew the flash was over...but the pain had already subsided.

I woke in disbelief but then quickly passed out.

On Sunday the next morning my mom came into my room to wake me up.

"Honey. You've been sleeping for the longest time. Are you feeling ok?" She asked quietly like she always did.

"Mmm." I mumbled.

"Nick. I'm serious. Are you alright?" she asked again.

"Mmm...Ya mom. I'm just tired." I said rolling over, causing the sheets to fall off of the bed.

"Why can't you sleep with some clothes on?" She asked with a grin on her face.

I couldn't help but laugh. I only had my boxers on. "Because I'm just so hot mom." I said still laughing groggyily.

"M, hm. You just think that sweety. Now get up. There's breakfast on the table."

"Kay mom" I said through my pillow. I heard her leave and I literally rolled out of bed and pulled on some basketball shorts and a black t-shirt and made my way downstairs.


	8. Chapter 8

Max's POV:

Who goes to work on Sunday? My dad obviously. He is beginning his new job. He's nervous I can tell. But on the bright side, I get to be home alone all day bored. Note the sarcasm.

"Bye Max. I'll be home around sixish. Wish me luck." He said.

"Good luck."

"And if you want to drive down to the school or the store, bookstore or whatever go ahead, but just be careful. Ok?"

"Ok." I said as I watched him go out the door.

I sat in my room and read for about an hour until the book started to bore me. That usually never happens but whatever. I just lay in my bed and listened to music until it was about 12 so I decided to get up and start tacking pictures to my tack board.

I passed picture after picture of friends. God I would miss them. Then I came to a picture of my mom and I just standing there posing and smiling. Like it should be.

I was already in a sad mood by looking at all the pictures of friends but this just pushed me over the top. My eyes started tearing up but I put my tears aside and decided to take a bread and get out of the house.

I didn't want to drive anywhere so I just decided to walk around the neighborhood. And since nobody knew me I just decided to walk in what I was wearing. Which were short yellow gym shorts, a purple sweatshirt, white sandals and my dark hair scrunched up hanging down to about my bellybutton length. Hot. Haha not really.

When I opened the door a cool air rushed in despite the sun shining. Yup, almost winter...which means well into the school year. Wow I just depressed myself again. I have to stop doing that.

As I slowly passed other peoples houses and cute little yards which held practically dead flowers and empty trees, I came to this spot with a few little trees. It was kind of forest like. Just like home.

Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go through. I stepped onto the leaves and ducked under branches until I came to this cliff like gorge with a river flowing through the center.

I could have climbed down the rocks to the water if I wanted to and put my feet in the water which is what I wanted to do, but I just sat down where I was. I curled my bear legs up to my chin and just spaced out.

I liked it here. This was a quiet, peaceful, secret place that relaxed me. I sat there for what seemed like hours until I checked my phone and realized it had actually been hours. Crap.

Dad was probably on his way home right now.

I decided that I would leave now and come back later tonight to think about stuff.

I took one last glance at the beautiful river and started through the little forest again and toward _home_.

I wanted this place secret.

It was about 1am on Monday morning when I finally heard my dad start snoring from downstairs.

Wow I have school tomorrow/today. Whatever, I'll just be tired. I want to go back to that river. So I did. I rolled out from underneath my blankets, still wearing those yellow gym shorts and a tank top. So I slipped on the same sweatshirt and sandals and made my way down the steps as quietly as I could. And trust me. I had a lot of experience sneaking out before.

I slipped back into my room and grabbed my sketching book really quickly and a few pencils. And the front door didn't even make a sound when it closed behind me. Awesome.

It was practically light outside with the way the moon was shining. It was night but still light enough to see stuff, otherwise I wouldn't be able to draw anything.

It was much more quiet than earlier today. I liked it even more. I was going to have to come out here every night.

When I made it through the woods and to the river, I sad down and opened up my sketch book and started to draw the river. The river flowed so perfectly. And this might sound weird, but I was jealous. I wish my life could be as simple as just flowing along. Just making it's was around nature. I wish.

I was there with my finished sketch just resting open on my legs that were stretched out in front of me. My bear legs were once again getting freezing cold. O-well. I t didn't matter. I didn't care.

I just sat there and thought about what would happen at school tomorrow, and my friends, my mom, and my...dad. I just thought about- I jumped about a foot in the air when I heard a noise behind me and my heard went into full drive in about point two seconds.

I slammed my sketch book shut and turned flew around breathing hard.

And there was an outline of a man. And he was not small...or my dad.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

The guy was just standing there. Who was he? Why did I have to come out here in short shorts?

I was just getting ready to scream when the guy said, "Um...I'm sorry."

Ok so he wasn't a murderer. "Uh." Was all I could come up with in the moment.

"Y. Ya. I didn't know anybody was up here. Sorry again." He quickly stuttered.

And I know you aren't supposed to talk to strangers but I said this and I don't know why. I guess I'm just the stupidest person on the f-ing planet. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't know. You can stay here. I'm just leaving anyways."

"No I'll leave, it's fine." He replied.

"No that's ok. I'll feel bad if you came down here then you just leave because of me. I'll go." I finished.

"But then I'll just feel bad for making you leave." He said. Were we really arguing about this? I haven't even seen this guy yet. All I've seen is his dark outline.

"So...Um....We...Both stay?" I asked without even knowing what I was saying. He just lingered where he was probably not knowing what to do either. 'Why am I still sitting here talking to a strange man?!' I screamed at myself.

"Um...sure." He replied questioningly and uncomfortably.

I just stared at him, still gripping my sketch book for dear life until he walked away from the forest edge just a little bit and cautiously sat next to me. Well not really next to me but definitely not close to me. He was probably about 10 feet away.

I couldn't help but glance over at him. He was really tall, with olive skin which looked incredible in the moon light. And his hair was almost black and shaggy in front of his eyes. And he had a lip ring on the left side of his mouth which seemed to complete his features. He glanced sideways at me and that's when I noticed his black eyes. They were the darkest eyes I have ever seen. They weren't even a dark shade of brown. They were just black. And they were beautiful.

In the awkwardness I curled my legs in with my knees to my chin and tried to hide my book from view. He noticed.

"So...Um...Fang."He said.

What the hell? Maybe I should leave. This guy just randomly said fang....Weird.....

He looked at me expectantly but also like I was stupid. So I just looked back at him questioningly.

"And you are?" He asked.

"Max.." I said slowly, "You?"

"Fang. My name's Fang." He replied like he was finally telling me the answer.

Oh. Well don't I feel stupid. Who names there kid Fang?

"Um...Interesting name."

"You to." He smirked, like it was a usual reaction, but most people understood...accept me.

"So...you know about this place too?" I asked conversationally.

"Ya. I didn't know anybody else came out here. I've been coming out here for years and I've never seen anybody else." He spoke. And he finally started looking me up and down. His eyes lingering on my yellow shorts. But not in a gross sexist way, but in a 'are you really wearing those' way.

His dark eyes lit up in amusement as he continued, "Um, I know it's California but it is almost winter, and it is almost three in the morning." I could tell he was trying his best not to laugh.

"Ya well I wasn't really thinking about it when I snuck out." I said quickly.

His eyes went from amusement to disbelief. "_You_ snuck out?"

"Yes _I _snuck out." I said. Did he really not believe me?

"Well I just thought nobody in this neighborhood snuck out accept for me because I'm the only teenager that lives here." He replied.

"How old are you?" I asked out of genuine curiosity.

"You first."

"What? No. I just asked you." I said.

"Fine. Fare enough. Seventeen." He looked at me expectantly.

"Seventeen." I also said.

"So since I am the only teenager that lives in this town. You must have walked really far. Or you just moved here." He said, starting to play with his lip ring without even noticing it. That must be what he does when he's thinking. Maybe.

"Ya...I moved here from Washington."

Something hit his eyes like realization. And he looked at me and smiled. "Washington huh? A whole two states away from home?" He asked.

"Ya." I answered shortly.

"Miss your friends?" He seemed to ask out of genuine curiosity.

Wow he knew how to ask the questions that mattered.

"Ya." I looked away.

"Excited to make knew friends?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Ya." I lied. Now I started to feel sad. He just hit the right nerve. It wasn't his fault thought. He didn't know what was going on. He was just asking questions.

"You ok?" Starting to curiously look at my sketch book.

"Ya." I repeated for like the fifth time. "I have school tomorrow...today....so....um I have to get home and get some sleep. Bye." I finished fast.

"Um...ok." He looked a little bit worried that he must have said something wrong. "Bye."

"Bye." I repeated and walked away through the wood clutching my sketchbook to my side all the way home.

When I got home I snuck in as easily as I had snuck out. And I was in my bed waiting for the 3 hours of sleep I would get. I looked at the clock. 3:10. Great. Now I'll be super tired for my first day of school.

And jeez did that guy, _Fang_, know how to get to me or what?


	9. Chapter 9

Fang's POV:

After Max disappeared through the trees I couldn't help but grin to myself. Ya she was pretty beautiful. But she wasn't like one of those barbies that's just going to put out for Derik. Aw this is going to be a good day tomorrow to see him try. I'm already laughing just thinking about it.

And when I meant beautiful, she was gorgeous. She had green blue eyes and a soft face that was kind yet still held attitude. And her long hair was scrunchy and messy almost down to her hips.

I sure as hell scarred the shit out of her though. I didn't mean to. She honestly scared me to. And what the hell was that book thing she was hiding. It wasn't like I was going to steal it from her. Maybe it's just some private thing or something. It's none of my business.

After about another hour of thinking about Max and my flash, I decided to go back home because I still had tryouts tomorrow and I can't afford to lose any sleep.

When I parked at the school the next morning and was sitting in my seat trying to get together some homework I had thrown around my back seat and passenger seat I saw Max get out of her dad's jeep. She looked a lot different than last night. Her hair was pulled back tight and she looked more put together and clean.

She seemed to be talking to her dad about something and she really didn't look that happy. But when she closed the door she stood there and waved goodbye to him until he turned the corner. After he was out of view she threw her backpack on the ground and pulled out a sweatshirt that said 'go wolves' on it or something, which looked a little bit more like her. Then she puller the hair tie out of her hair and let her hair fall in curls down her back. She messed it up with her hand a little bit, put her backpack back on and started for the front of the school.

By that time I had the biggest grin on my face than I think I have ever had in my life. Only until Derik opened the door and jumped into my passenger seat and slammed the door shut looking terrified.

"Lissa's out there. And she is not going to talk to my at all. If she even—why the hell are you smiling so much? I've never seen you smile like that in my life. Did Jesus Christ come down here and say hello or something? What the hell is the matter with you?" he seemed skeptical.

Then I laughed out loud. "What the hell is my problem?" I asked still grinning. "Nothing, I'm just happy. Now get out of my car and go face Lissa like a man."

"F that. I'm sitting in here with you until the bell rings." he said, slowly reaching over and locking the door.

"Whatever. Go in the back seat and find my pre-calc homework or I'll feed you to Lissa."

"Ok." he said thankfully and flopped over to the back seat.

Mrs. Johnson was about five minutes into her 'science is the best thing in the world' speech when the door opened and 'guess who' walked in. Yup: Max.

She had a slight apologetic and shy smile on her face once the teacher finally spotted her. "Well hello. Nice of you to finally be joining us. You must be Max?" Mrs. Johnson said.

"Ya. Sorry about that." Max replied quietly.

"Oh no problem. Class this is our new student from..."

"Washington" Max filled in.

"Washington. Fascinating state."

"Have you met the president?" Lissa asked like the stupid blonde she is. Seriously?

I could tell Max was trying to keep that 'are you a moron?' look off of her face. "Um no, the other Washington.." She said slowly.

"What other Washington?" Lissa asked.

"The one that's two states north of California." Max said like she actually was retarded.

Mrs. Johnson just snorted a little bit and said, "Ok, well we are happy to have you here with us this year, and you can take a seat right over there my Alice." She finished.

"Ok." Max said kindly. I couldn't stop starring at her. She took her seat next to Alice, who I think is a good person for her to sit by since she's new. Alice is nice.

"Oh," Mrs. Johnson continued, "We don't want you being late again so I'll pick a student to show you to your classes. Do you mind?"

"Um..." Max started. But my dipshit best friend Derik on my right burst out of his seat almost raising his hand asking if he could be the one.

"Sure. Why not. Don't get her lost on purpose Derik." said Mrs. Johnson in a dark voice.

"Oh I won't." Derik replied with a grin on his face. Max was just sitting there in disbelief that Derik was the one that had to lead her around school. Obviously she understood he was a little bit of a pig by now.

Then her eyes landed on me sitting next to him. Her eyes widened slightly as I grinned and gave a little wave/salutish kind of thing with my hand. Then she dropped her head in her hands. And they pretty much stayed like that the whole period.

As Derik was sliding back down into his seat next to me he leaned over and whispered, "Score".

When the bell rang Derik got up and started walking toward Max who was packing her things, and Derik said, "Wish me luck."

"Go get him tiger." was all I could think of saying without laughing my ass off.

As he walked over to her he tried to lean on the desk and act all cool, but it didn't work because he stripped on a chair and stumbled. You could see the laughter in her eyes. She knew exactly what he was trying to do.

I sat in my desk laughing my head off after they left. He made a complete fool of himself and Max was being nice and trying not to laugh about it, which also wasn't working out that well.

"What are you laughing at?" Alice asked coming up next to me. The best volleyball player in the school and the girl who secretly had the biggest crush on Derik since forever. Especially because of that Derik thing, we've become good friends.

"Oh nothing. Just watching Derik be a complete fool. Let's go to second period." I said, still cracking a grin.

"Ok you freak lets start walking."

On our way to second period I couldn't help but ask, "So, is Max nice?"

"Oh ya. She' s a little sweetheart. She's kind of funny to. Do you know her or something?" She asked.

"No I don't know her." I answered.

I sat down at our lunch table with Mike and Nudge already there eating. I packed two monsters in the morning since I stayed out at the river most of the night. I opened the first one and started to drink when I heard Derik talking behind me. "So ya this is our table. You want to sit with us today?" he asked a little bit annoyingly.

"...Sure." I heard Max say. Max sat down about a foot away from me while still talking to Derik.

"Alright now I'm gonna go grab some lunch...aren't you eating?" he asked quickly.

"Um...no I forgot to get money." she said.

"Do you want me to get you something?" Derik asked.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry." she said.

"You sure?" He persisted.

"I'm good. Thanks though." she said. And he finally left to get his food.

She turned around and smiley shyly at us. "Nice to finally meet the new girl Derik is in love with. I'm Mike" Mike said.

"Hey. I'm Max."

"Ok so you have got to tell me this now. Is your hair real? Like did you dye it or curl it or what. And you have the prettiest eye color I have ever seen in my life. Do you wear colored contacts or what?" Nudge blurted out.

Max's eyes got big and said, "Real and real and not curled, natural."

"Jealous." Nudge said smiling.

Max looked at me and eyed my monsters and muttered, "healthy."

"Ya well I need some energy when I stay up all late." I said grinning.

She looked down at the table and Nudge and Mike both looked at me curiously.

Max quickly changed the conversation. "So...is he always like that?"

"Who Derik? That's just his way of flirting." I assured her.

"Oh." Then her face fell and she said, "I don't want him flirting with me."

I almost burst out laughing. Wow I have never wanted to laugh this much in forever. "Well you better get used to it because he flirts with everybody. He's a really good guy but playing the relationship game is his obsession." I promised her.

"So have you met the president?" Nudge asked. Max looked up like she couldn't believe there were this many stupid people in this school, until Nudge said, "I'm just kidding. I know you're from Washington State. The girl who just asked you, Lissa, is just a dumb-ass."

And that deserved a laugh from Max.

Lunch continued on like that. And it turns out that we all like Max. She's hilarious. And she told us a little bit about some of her old friends. Not that much though. But all in all it was a pretty good lunch.

Later in fifth period gym I spotted Max. "Hey I didn't know you had fifth period gym." I said.

"Yup I do."

"So how was Mr. Street?" I asked out of curiosity of what happened during fourth period.

"Well...he's a bitch." she said plainly.

"Ya that pretty much sums him up." I said. Then the teacher blew the whistle and called us to the center of the gym to explain volleyball which was our next unit since the tryout are on Wednesday.

The explanation was super long and super boring, but we had about eight different nets and I was playing on Max's team with a few other people. She was just standing off to the side out of the way. Honestly she looked like she wanted to play, but something was stopping her.

I passed the ball to her a couple times on purpose and she simply bumped them right over the net perfectly.

We played the whole period and that's all she did. Well I guess we have like another month of volleyball so I won't push her.

The whistle blew and we both went into our separate locker rooms.

When I walked out of the boys locker room, she walked out of hers holding up a piece of paper.

"Hey. No clue where your next class is?" I asked walking up to her.

"Not a freaking clue." She replied.

"Ok I'll take you." I took the sheet and read it, "Calculus. Woo somebody's good at math." I said. I was in pre-calc and I was basically failing. Math is my worst subject.

"Ya...I like math. I know I'm a nerd."

"Haha. Not really. I suck at math." I said, still looking at the piece of paper.

"I can help you if you ever need it. I used to tutor at my old school." she said.

"Really? Wow. I will actually have to take that offer up some weekend. Not kidding."

"Sounds fine with me." She said. And we started off to her sixth period class.


	10. Chapter 10

Max's POV:

My first day of school went by much better than I expected. People were nice. My dad was right. He usually is.

I can't even believe I had Fang in my classes. I thought I was never going to see him again. Well he was a junior to so maybe I should have expected it. He's cool. Derik just makes me laugh my ass off because he is just so ridiculous. Nudge...likes to talk. But I really don't mind. And Mike seems to have a crush on Nudge? Maybe. I really shouldn't know everything because it was my first day.

My dad picked me up from school to. He said that he wanted to give me a ride on my first day. I don't know why but yet again...whatever. I'll be driving my car tomorrow so it doesn't matter.

And volleyball today was pure torture. I wanted to hit it so bad. But I'm not playing for this school so I'm just trying to lay low. Fang noticed to. He kept trying to his it over to me so I just simply bumped it over to the other team. I didn't give anything away. I hope.

"So. How was your first day? Make any friends?" my dad asked at dinner that night.

I decided to give him a little break. "Um... It was good. People are nice. Talked to a few people." I said lamely.

He raised and eyebrow, "Like..." He pressed.

"Um Fang, Derik, Mike, and Nudge." I said

"Fang?"

"Ya, don't worry he's not the creeper that you think he would be. And I got confused on his name the first time I met him to." I said reassuringly.

"So...all guys?" He asked. I knew he was hoping they were all just girls with dude names. He hated it when I was around boys. Fatherly protection I guess.

"No, Nudge is a girl." I said simply. He still didn't really like it that much I could tell. "Don't worry dad. They're just going to be friends. I swear."

He gave me a 'ya right' look, like he knew something I didn't. "Ok. I believe you." he said. A few more minutes passed my with us just eating a talking when he said, "did you give volleyball a second thought?"

"No." I answered quickly. To quickly for myself.

"Mm." He mumbled.

The next morning I woke up two hours early and couldn't go back to sleep. Great. Ugh. So I decided to pick out one my cd's from the million I own and put it in my stereo. I just lay on my bed bored so I started to repaint the chipped paint already on my fingernails with black. That only look like five minutes. Ugh again.

Then I decided to role out from under my blanket and straighten my hair. I usually don't straighten it. Just sometimes.

When I was finally done straightening it it was about 2 inches longer, and my side bangs were dangling in my face. I pulled on some dark blue skinny jeans that tucked into my brown ugg boots, and a white loose tanktop over a black one. I put on some makeup and went downstairs to see my dad reading the paper like he always does.

He eyed me, "Don't you look like you had some extra time this morning." he grinned.

"Ya, I couldn't fall back to sleep." I said as I reached for the already cut grapefruit on a plate. "Thanks." I said to my dad. I loved grapefruit and my dad thought it was the most disgusting thing he's ever eaten. But he still bought it for me.

"No problem." he said shortly. And I just grinned at him.

After I ate breakfast I went back to my room to grab my backpack, and I drove off to school. (In my own car). I pulled in with only about a minute to spare so I started walking for my first period class until I heard Mike behind be. "Wait up Max." I turned around and saw him trot up next to me and start walking again. He looked like he was really winded and a little bit sweaty.

"Did you just work out or something?" I asked

"Ya, every Monday we have morning conditioning." He replied.

"We?" I asked like I had no clue what was going on.

He grinned slightly, "Ya. The basketball players." he said. And right as he said that Fang appeared on my side wearing sweat pants and a damp black shirt, with his hair stuck to his forehead a little bit.

"Hey." he said cooly.

"Him to?" I asked Mike. He just nodded.

"What." Fang asked eying me.

"Oh I just figured out that you two do basketball."

"Yup. Tryouts." Mike said. "Not that Fang needs tryouts. He's guaranteed varsity. But me, I'm trying to make it pass J.V."

"Good luck. When do you find out your teams?" I asked.

"Tomorrow. When the volleyball tryouts start." Mike said.

"Do you play any sports?" Fang asked raising an eyebrow like he knew my answer.

"Um...I played volleyball in junior high." I lied right through my teeth. He knew to.

"Sure." was all he said before we walked into Mrs. Johnson's class.

Later after school, I finished my homework and my dad wasn't home still so I decided to draw. I went out into the front yard on the grass to sketch some dead flowers in the cold air.

I was laying on my stomach focusing on my sketch when a car stopped on the road and, you guessed it, Fang stepped out. But so did Derik from the passenger seat.

I closed my book and gave them a questioning look. "Hey guys what are you doing here." I asked.

"We saw you when we were on our way to my house to pick up my little sister and Derik saw you, so I had to back up and let him talk to you." Fang said with humor in his eyes.

"Well...hey Derik." I said getting up from my spot.

"Hey...what are you doing laying on the grass?" Derik asked.

Uh, "Enjoying nature." I only half lied. Fang's eyes wondered to my sketchbook and I knew he recognized it. But he didn't say anything.

Then my dad pulled into the driveway. "Hey Max. Who are your friends?" He asked nicely.

"Fang and Derik." I confirmed.

"So...what are you guys doing outside in the cold?" he asked.

Crap. I stared down at my book and back up to him and he dropped it. He knew I didn't want anybody to know about my sketching. It was my little private thing.

"You boys want to come inside?" he asked quickly changing the subject.

"Actually we have to pick up my little sister and take her to her volleyball game at the middle school. Thank you though." Fang said kindly. "Max do you want to come?" he asked. I swear to gosh it was like he was planning this.

"Um--" I started but my dad interrupted me.

"She would love to!" He filled in.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Fang, Derik, and I were driving to Fang's house which was literally only 5 seconds away since we lived in the same neighborhood.

"Hold on, I'll be right back," Fang said as he got out of the car and jogged up to his house and reappeared with the cutest, most blonde little girl I had ever seen.

Fang got back in the drivers seat, and the little girl filled in next to me.

"Hi Derik" she said sweetly.

"Hello little munchkin." he said back. Then she looked at me and smiled.

"Angel that's my friend Max. And Max that's my little sister Angel." Fang said, starting to drive.

"Hi Angel." I said looking at her still bleach white knee pads. "Are you just starting a new season?" I asked.

"Yes. And I am so excited for the game today!!!" she said smiling like none other. "I really like your hair...your pretty." She said suddenly.

"Um. Well thank you. And I like your blonde curls." I said smiling and truthfully. I looked up to see Fang smiling in the mirror.

On our way to the school we talked a little bit more. And I actually laughed. Angel was just the cutest kid I have ever seen. And it was easy to tell that she thought of Derik as an older brother. And he was forced (by Fang) to clean up his act when he was around her.

When we got there Fang, Derik, and I found a spot in the bleachers while Angel ran to her team on the court.

Angels team won the first match and they were taking a break. Honestly she was pretty god for a seventh grader. The game was slow because it was a middle school game, but I honestly enjoyed it. God I wanted to play so bad.

During the break Derik announced that he was getting skittles and went to the food counter outside of the gym. Once he left, Fang said, "So, you played in junior high?" He was still looking at Angel in her team huddle.

"Ya, but that's it" I lied.

"Mm... For some reason I don't believe you," he said finally looking at me with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. Well...That was really unexpected.

"W. What?" I stuttered. I really wasn't expecting his to just say it. I mean I kind of got the drift that he knew, but...

"Are you trying out tomorrow?" he pushed.

"W. Well...wait what?" I finally asked. "No I'm not trying out." I finally answered.

He just looked at me. "Why not?" he asked. "It's obvious that you want to." It is not obvious. Is it? "Is it because your in a new school or what?" he finished.

His gaze was so strong and powerful. All I could do was sit there and stare at him in shock and stutter until Derik came back and the second match started.

Throughout the entire game we cheered and occasionally Fang would glance at me and grin and look back at the court. Why was he trying to get me to play? How did he even know? Ok now I'm freaking myself out. Just don't think about it.

After Angel won her game and Fang and Derik dropped me off I sat in my room after dinner looking at the volleyball form I took. Ya that whole not thinking about it thing did not work out...at all.

I looked down at the form that I had completely filled out and the only thing left to do was the parent signature. Great.

The next morning after I got ready for school I grabbed the form and a pen and walked downstairs. God I cannot believe I'm doing this.

My dad was sitting at the table reading his paper. Figures. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and he looked up at me and smiled. "Good morning." he said.

"Morning" I replied. I sort of lingered on my grapefruit and finally walked up to the table, layed out the sheet and pen and walked back to my food. He slowly looked it over, grinned, signed it and went back to his paper without saying a word. I slowly crept back to the table and stuffed the sheet in my bag and went upstairs to put my knee pads in my bag to.

Great. What did I just get myself into? He was right.

He is always right.


	11. Chapter 11

Fang's POV:

On Wednesday after finding out that Mike and I had made it to varsity, he decided to go and celebrate. Which is basically playing 'Call of Duty' on the x-box with some of his friends.

"Dude come on," Mike said with a huge smile on his face.

"No that's ok. I've got a huge paper due tomorrow that I haven't even started yet. Have fun." I replied.

"Ok man" He said not seeming that fazed. I've never seen him happier.

After he ran off to his car I started walking to my car. It was basically dark. We got out really late tonight. I heard a door open and shuffling feet.

I turned around to see Max jogging through the cold air in volleyball spandex and a sweatshirt with her car keys in her mouth and messing with her phone, probably texting somebody. I didn't say anything as I watched her get into her car and leave. She didn't see me either I think.

I caught myself smiling while I was throwing my doufle bag into my passenger seat and driving home.

So she finally decided to play volleyball. But why was she there so much later than the other girls. I saw them leave at 5:30. Eh whatever.

…

That next day during lunch we were just talking. Just talking. It was weird, but it seemed like Max was already one of our close friends. She was already in the group. She's been here for like what 4 days? 5 days? She was just cool and easy to get along with. She was down to earth.

"So I heard you made varsity." Max directed towards me.

I just shrugged, "No biggy. I wonder who you heard that from." I said glancing at a smiling Mike.

"What do you mean 'no biggie'? Aren't you excited?" She asked.

I shrugged again. I don't talk much. Can you tell? "Well he's been on it before. He was guaranteed a spot." Mike said smugly.

"Oh? Who's you're captain?" She asked.

"Who do you think?" He said smiling at me.

I just glared at him, while Max grinned. "Well...Max how do you think you're gonna do in volleyball?" I asked changing the subject from me to Max. I don't mind people knowing I'm good at something, but when they like to rant and rant about it, it bugs the shit out of me. Mike knew it too.

Max just turned her head towards me and lost her smile. "Max you play volleyball?" Mike asked.

"Who plays volleyball?" Nudge asked as she walked up and sat down at our table for lunch.

"Max." I said simply. Ha ha, she was still glaring at me.

"Did you start practice yesterday?" Mike asked.

"Ya," she said quietly.

"You any good?" Mike asked. It seemed Nudge was about to ask the same question.

"I'm ok." She said. 'Lies all over the place' I thought. I haven't seen her play, but something just tells me she's good. I don't know, just a feeling.

"Sweet. What team do you think you're gonna make?" Nudge asked.

"I don't know"

"What do you mean you don't know. You're not like bad enough to get cut from the team is basically what I want to know." Nudge said.

"No," Max replied with a hint of laughter in her eyes.

"So you'll find out tomorrow actually." Mike said.

"Ya."

Nudge asked, "Why are the tryouts for volleyball only three days when basketball tryouts are like a week?"

"Because guys take a few days to get back into the groove of things and Alice said that a girl either has the skills to be on varsity or not." I filled in. Max looked at me and she seemed to be thinking, 'true'.

"When's you're first game?" Max asked changing the subject just like a had before.

"Um...Friday?" Mike said unsure.

"Next Friday." I corrected. What? I'm the captain. I have to know this stuff.

"Well I think I'll have to go and watch. Nudge want to come with me?" Max asked.

"Do I? Hell yes I do." She replied. The conversation just kept continuing about volleyball and basketball until the bell cut off our conversation.

…

The next morning after science I waited for Alice. "Hey" I said.

"Hey there," she said looking up from stuffing her binder in her bag.

"Hey I was just wondering how the volleyball season was going."

"In the first three days? Pretty good I guess." she replies.

"Ya. I was just wondering how Max is." I said a little uncomfortably.

"Max? She's our secret weapon. She's better than I am."

"Really? Better than you?" I said stunned. Well I didn't think she was that good. Alice was one of the best players in the county. Wow.

"Ya. She's really really good. I honestly don't think were gonna lose a game with her on the team. She's already been chosen for varsity. Me, her, and Caleah. I heard she wasn't going to play for some reason. Thank God she did." She said smiling.

"That good?" she just nodded.

"Ya she's really cool to. She's hilarious. Why did you ask?" She asked.

"Oh no reason. Just curious." I replied.

"Whatever dork. Lets get to second period before we're late." she said.

"Sure. Lets go."


	12. Chapter 12

Max's POV:

"Max, Alice, Caleah, Cassie, Holly, Destiny, Amanda, and Ronnie" Our coach said. I heard huffs and puffs of relief and a few girls starting to cry. Wow. Cry? Really?

I just sat there on the gym floor not really paying any attention on who was being called for JV and C-team. Wow. My team would be so pissed at me right now if they knew. This was definitely going to be weird playing for a different team and coach. And playing with different people. I guess we're just gonna see how this turns out.

"Ok, if I called you're name on varsity please go down to the far court and the rest of you go ahead and listen to you're own coach." Our coach (the head coach) said. The varsity team stood up and walked to the far court and sat down as instructed. "Ok. Well...congratulations. I hope I made the right choice in who I picked...." Coach continued just like every other coach would. She talked about how you could easily be pulled down to JV if you don't show effort. Bla bla bla. Then we instantly got started on finding our positions.

We basically just did a drill to let the coach see our strengths and weaknesses.

By the end of practice we were all sweaty and panting hard as we did our final huddle to hear our positions. "Not all of the positions are set in stone yet accept Max, Alice, and Caleah. Max, you're outside spiker. Alice, setter. And Caleah, you're center back." Score. My same position as before.

We all went to the big huddle with JV and C-team and we were reminded, "Oh and varsity has practice at 6 pm on Saturday tomorrow. But we have to share the big gym with the boys because we can't use the small gym. It will be used by the girl youth basketball players every Sunday. Got it?" our coach said.

"ya," was basically the response she got back from everybody.

As I was walking back to the locker room with Alice, Caleah ran up behind us and said, "Hey we should do something tomorrow. You guys want to go to the mall with me then just drive to practice together?"

"Ya, I can meet you after my little brothers basketball game." Said Alice.

"Ya. Sounds like fun. I haven't been to the mall here yet so I have no clue where it is." I said.

"Oh. Well Caleah you can meet us there and I can pick up Max." Alice said.

"Sounds good with me." I said.

"Alright. Meet you at 3:30ish?" Caleah asked.

"Ya that will work. Work for you Max?"

"Yup" I said. Finally I got to go do something. And with some girls to. Yes. I was actually excited. "Sweet can't wait."

"Ok so I know you live in Fang's neighborhood, but what house is it?" Alice asked.

"Like the third one on the right when you pull in."

"Alright." she said.

"Wait...How did you know I lived in Fang's neighborhood?"

"Oh we're friends. He told me." She responded as if it didn't even matter.

"Oh." I said uncertainty. I didn't know they were friends.

"Is there something wrong with us being friends?" she asked actually beginning to look like she had offended me.

"Oh no no. I just didn't expect it." I reassured her.

"Oh ya. He's nice to me...because I have this weird crush on his best friend." She said. "And I usually don't tell people that so please don't tell anybody." She said looking at me.

"Derik?" I asked.

"Ya."

"Why?" I asked.

"Oh I know that must be unexpected to?" I just nodded, "Ya only Caleah and Fang really know. I knew I would have told you sooner or later so I just decided to get it out of the way." She said matter of factly. I liked Alice. She was straight to the point. And it's like she knew we were just gonna end up being good friends or something. I don't know but I kind of felt it to.

"But...why" I asked still generally confused.

"Ha ha," She laughed, "Well I know he seems like one of those people that just try to get into everybody's pants, but he's not actually trying to literally have sex with you. I think it's just to prove that he could if he wanted to. I don't know. He's just goofy I guess. And yes I know he hits on everybody. He even hit on you," I just nodded, "That's just his personality. It's who he is. But underneath that I think he just a person who's sweet and wants to eventually find actual love. I don't know. I think about things way to much sometimes. Don't you think?" she finished grinning a little bit.

"Ya you do, but I think you might be right now that I think about it." I said reassuring her.

She smiled. "Well thanks for thinking I'm not totally insane" She laughed.

"Don't mention it. And you're secret it safe with me."

"Thanks. You excited for tomorrows practice?" She asked sarcastically. But the 'thanks' was very sincere.

"Oh ya. It's my favorite thing to do on a Saturday to come to school and get a good work out when I could be home sitting there eating food and playing on the computer." I said back sarcastically.

"Ha ha. Well it's good to have you on the team. We really needed you."

"Sure you did." I said.

"We did. I'm serious!" She insisted.

"M-hm. Well I'll see you tomorrow. Don't get lost on the way to my house." I said.

"Don't worry I won't. See you tomorrow." She said smiling.

…

After I got home from practice there was still some daylight out so I decided to go down to the river where it was peaceful and quiet and get some homework done. My dad wasn't home yet so I didn't have to explain anything.

I walked down the street, through the woods, and sat down on the cliff by the river and pulled out my binder and started writing a rough draft paper for English.

After making tons of scribbles and revisions I was getting close to the end of my paper when it started to get a little bit dark. I heard a stick crack behind me and I jumped about a half a food in the air (again) and I dropped my pencil down the rocks. Dammit.

I turned around to see Fang, "Sorry Max. I didn't think you would be here." He said.

"Oh it's fine. I was just doing homework for English class." I said. My heart started to slow down a little bit as I relaxed.

Fang came and sat next to me. It was quiet and I saw him eyeing my empty hand halfway through writing a sentence. He gave me a questioning look, then followed my gaze down to the river. He snickered a little bit when he saw my pencil floating down the river. "Um...Sorry about that." He said trying to hold in his laughter.

"Of course you are. You scared the shit out of me." I told him starting to reach in my bag for another pencil. "You owe me a number two pencil with a purple eraser, and wings printed on it." I said jokingly half seriously.

"I promise when I see one I will buy it for you" he said seriously.

"Deal" I said. "Wow we are super nerds."

"We? I just like promising pencils to people. You're the one doing homework on a Friday. Why aren't you waiting until Sunday night like a normal kid?" he asked.

"Because I have a ton of it. And I'm busy tomorrow. And I probably won't be able to get it all done on Sunday alone."

"Oh. What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked curiously.

"Mall then practice." I said simply.

"Who you going to the mall with?"

"Alice and Caleah."

"Oh that's cool. Have fun. Caleah's the funniest person I have ever met. Wait...Practice?" He asked.

"Yup." I said matter of factly.

"You made varsity. Cool. You excited?" He asked. Was he mocking me? I could play at that game.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "No biggy".

He seemed to notice. "Who's your captain?" He asked pretending to be me.

"Who do you think?"

"Oh shut up." He said.

"Ha ha. I'm kidding. We don't know yet. I think we vote on Monday or something." I said smiling.

He just nodded. God I wish he would actually speak sometimes.

"So...Why did you come out here?" I asked making some conversation.

"Oh just to get out of my house." He said shortly looking at the water. There was more to it than that. Anybody could tell. He looked slightly irritated.

"Sure. You know I could leave if you wanted." I said starting to stand up.

"No. That's fine." he said still looking at the water. I just lingered standing next to him, not actually knowing if he wanted to be alone or not. "Sit back down Max." he sighed.

I followed his orders and sat back down next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?" Him talk about something? Ya right. That was the stupidest thing to say in the world.

But when I looked up at him he seemed to be milling thing over in his head. He was playing with his lip wring. He was spacing out in the general direction of my eyes, just thinking, until he focused back in and looked at me after a few seconds. "Ya. I do." He said.

Well...that was unexpected. "Really?" I asked.

"Ya. Why did you move?" He asked simply looking back at the water.

"What?" What the hell? He obviously didn't understand the meaning of talking about something. "I thought we were talking about you?" I said a little more cruel then I meant.

"We will. But obviously you need to talk about something to." He replied. Was he trying to confuse me? I just kept staring at him. And that stare eventually turned into a glare. But he didn't return it. He just kept waiting for me to continue. I don't think I would be winning this staring contest.

"I don't have anything to talk about." I said matter of factly.

"Yes you do."

"What? Fang why are you trying to confuse me?" I asked raising my voice a little bit.

"I'm not. Obviously you didn't move because you just wanted to and obviously since you've only know people here for like what a week? You haven't really talked about it. Have you?" He said calmly and smoothly.

I slowed my breathing back down and took a deep breath. Wow. He was actually trying to talk to me about something. And the truth was, he was right. I looked back down at the rushing water.

"Max you need to talk to somebody. I understand if you don't want to talk about it with me. But if you don't, then talk about it with somebody else. Ok? And I know I've only known you for a week and I don't seem like the touchy, talkative person, because I'm not. But you need to get it out whether you want to or not. Talk about it with me or somebody else. It doesn't matter who." he said looking at me. And the truth was that I did need to talk about it. I don't know how he knew but he did. And I never thought I would here him speak so much. Ever. "You can trust me Max. You know that I'm not going to go blabbing about you're issues with everybody." He said.

I took my binder off of my lap and set it next to me on the ground and turned 90 degrees towards Fang. I criss-crossed my legs and looked at his side. "If I go, you go." I said simply.

He responded by following my actions and turning toward me and criss-crossing his legs. "Deal." He said shortly. He looked curious. Truly curious.

"Ok. What do you want to know first?" I huffed, looking at him.

"Why did you move?" He asked calmly.

"Well...my dad's job got relocated." I said. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Is that it? Because for some reason I don't believe you." he said playing with his lip ring. "Why couldn't you stay with your mom?"

I huffed again, "I can't stay with my mom because she died when I was eight." He leaned over and put his elbows on his knees and payed more intent attention.

"I'm really sorry to hear that." He said quietly. But the think was he actually sounded sorry. When it happened, other people felt sorry for me but never actually tried to talk to me about it. And here's Fang talking to me about it full on. No bullshit. "I think you should start from the beginning." He said.

I sighed. "Ok. When I was little I was close to my mom, and sorta close with my dad. I don't know why but that's just how it was. And when she died...I was stuck with someone that I didn't really...click with, I guess you would call it. When the entire thing happened, he wouldn't tell me anything. My mom was always the one that would let me go out and explore for myself, but my dad was the opposite. He would protect me of everything. And since I'm an independent person, I like to figure stuff out on my own. Learn on my own. So I wanted to learn about my mom. But my dad wouldn't let me. He would let me do like school related stuff and stuff like that. He's not like superly over protective. It's just that...He doesn't want me to see what out in the world or something...I don't know. It's really hard to explain." I said looking up at Fang.

"No. I think I know what you mean. It's not like he doesn't want you to now make friends or anything. He just...wants you to be his little angel forever or something. To tell you what's wrong and what's right. When you really need to be the one to experiment and figure it out by yourself." He said knowingly. I just looked at him in amazement. He looked into my eyes and nodded. "Keep going."

"Um...ya. You explained it perfectly. Um...well...after my mom died. My last little piece of freedom flew away with her. The..protectiveness became overbearing. And by the time I finally started to realize it I was probably 13 or 14 years old. And those are the years that...our minds grow the most I guess is how you would say it. Well long story short, I wanted to rebel. I wanted to let him know that I was me and I was going to do stuff whether he liked it or not. So...I ran away right after I turned 15 and disappeared for a week." I had to stop and wipe the few tears away form my eyes. I usually didn't cry, but talking about it and basically reliving it was hard.

I looked up at Fang who was silent and looking at me sadly and continued, "Well when I ran away nobody knew where I was. Not even my best friends. I basically took all of my money which is what I saved for the longest time and just stayed in a shitty hotel. I remember I got drunk a few times. Got high a few times. I didn't like it, but I did it. And the funny thing is, I don't know why I did it. I didn't want to." I stopped and looked up at Fang. I had tears in my eyes this time. He was just looking deeply in my eyes. The silence filled the dark cold air. It had gotten dark fast. There was nothing to really say that could reassure me.

I dropped my head in my hands looking at the ground, finally feeling my tears run clear tracks down my cheeks. I sat there listening to the running water.

"Max," Fang broke the silence, "you can't blame yourself. You really can't" He said so quietly. "You were in a state of depression.....does anybody else know what you did?"

I spoke through my hands, "No...I was scared. I was embarrassed. I just told everybody that I just stayed in a hotel...Nobody know....accept you." I looked up and I could see Fang looking at me through my blurry eyes. I wiped my tears away and sniffed. "Anyways, after I blew all my money and realized what I was doing was horribly wrong, I went home. I knew what I was doing wasn't going to help me. So I went home." I finished.

"What happened when you went home?" He asked calmly.

I sighed and tried again to wipe the tears out of my eyes and continued, "Well...I just showed up at the door with my bag. I was dirty and gross. I knocked on the front door and my dad came out. His eyes and face was red. He'd been crying. And I remember seeing him like that, and then just bursting into tears. He came and hugged me. He just kept hugging me." I shrugged and took a breath, "We talked, but I never told him everything. And then I got back into school and I turned my life around with my dad. We still don't get along the best, but we both try. And I was enjoying my happy life with all of my friends. My team. My school. And then he took it away, and I felt like it wasn't fair...So...that's my story." I huffed. My eyes were still a little bit watery and I all of a sudden felt wiped out. I had never told anybody that before.

"Thank you for finally talking about it." Fang said solemnly and quietly. We just sat there in the silence of the river. I put my head back in my hands trying to hide the tears.

"So how about you?" I asked trying to smile it out.

"...Not as epic as yours." He said. He looked at me worriedly.

"How about I hear about it some other time? I'm really tired and it's dark. And my dad's probably home and wondering where I am."

"Ok," Fang said. "Just relax Max." He said in almost a whisper.

"I am," I said in the same tone. I put my stuff in my backpack and slipped it on.

"How about I take you home?" Fang said worriedly.

"...Ok...If you want to. I'm fine though." I replied.

"No, I want to. Come on, lets go."

We walked through the woods and through the dark street in the moonlight. We walked in silence. It was comfortable though. I felt refreshed. I'm happy I finally talked about it. I'm so happy I finally told somebody.

When we got to my house Fang walked me to my door. We stood outside while he looked at me worriedly once again. "I swear I'm fine Fang. I'm happy I talked about it. I really am." I looked at him, with my eyes still watering. "Thank you for listening. Thank you. Really."

"Don't mention it. Any time you need to talk about anything I'm not kidding, come over or call me. It doesn't matter if it's in the middle of the night or anything. Ok?" He said.

"Ok." I said with a fake smile. He saw right through it. He grinned sadly and started to turn when I hugged him. While he stiffened I slowly put my cheek against his chest and wrapped my ares lightly around him. I leaned my head down a little bit so he couldn't see me cry even more silently, but he knew I was. His arms slowly came around my shoulders above my backpack. I sniffed my nose from crying and took a few deep breaths before backing away and smiling a little bit through my tears. "Thanks... Bye Fang."

"Bye Max." He said with another sad grin. But in that little grin and hug, I realized that we were actual friends. I don't know how after only a week I trusted him more than any of my other best friends, but I did. And I'm happy I did.


	13. Chapter 13

Fang's POV:

Is was about 6 when I walked into the locker room on Saturday night. I was about 3o minutes early. It was deserted. I just had to get out of my house. My dad was just pissing me off. So I came a little bit early.

I dropped my bag on the floor in front of my locker and pulled out my i-pod. I looked at it and grinned. I let Angel paint on the back of it with her fingernail polish. I told her not to use pink, so she used purple. She had painted a bunch of distorted hearts and a wing. I don't know why, but she did. God I loved her. She could always cheer me up.

I put the earplugs in my ears and layed down on the hard bench dividing the aisle into two grinning and closed my eyes.

…

Something dropped onto my face and I opened my eyes to see a pair of basketball shorts. I threw them to the floor and sat up to see Mike getting dressed...I guess I fell asleep on the bench. Well I didn't get that much sleep last night because I had a lot on my mind.

"Dude, why the hell are you sleeping?" Mike asked, while changing his shirt.

"Uh, I was tired I guess." I said after rolling off the bench and rubbing my eyes, and putting my i-pod back into my bag.

"Are you having trouble sleeping again?"

"Little bit." I responded.

"How come you didn't bring some Monsters or anything?'

"I really didn't want any." I said, starting to pull of my shirt carelessly and putting on my team practice shirt.

"Well you need to get some sleep. We need you on this team to do good. You know that." Mike said seriously, starting to tie his white basketball shoes. Ya my shoes were flat black with black laces. Surprise surprise.

"Ya I know. I'll work on it." I said with a grin.

After we were dressed, the rest of the team started showing up and changing. Since it was only a varsity practice there was only 10 guys here. Aka: we had a lot of room on the court to run lines. Well...our half of the court anyways. We had to share with the varsity volleyball players every Saturday. Which was fine with me as long as our players could keep their eyes off of them all in there spandex.

We'll see...

When our team walked out of the locker room fully dressed down, the girls were already huddled in a circle on the other side of the gym talking to there coach.

I looked them over. Yup, they were all wearing spandex accept one. You guessed it. Max. She was standing there leaning on her left foot, spacing off at the ground, fiddling with the loop string on her gray sweats carelessly. She grinned at something somebody said and looked up at her coach and said something. Well that's good that she's getting along with everybody. It was pretty expected.

(~Author's note: Did you guys know that I'm typing all of this with a broke middle finger on my right hand? That's right, I'm dedicated. I broke it when I was catching a grounder in fastpitch.~)

Our coach blew his whistle and we jogged into a huddle. As our coach talked to us about our weaknesses and strengths in the team, I couldn't help but notice guys glancing over to the girls side. God help me. Our coach loudly cleared his throat, and got all of the guys attention back. "Ok, five suicides." Everybody groaned and started walking to the base line. Even me. "Hustle or it's six" He warned. (AN: I've only done like three suicides in a row and that was pure hell.)

So we jogged to the base line and started sprinting.

…

When we finished running our suicides we were all sweaty and panting. We were all hunched over trying to catch some air.

When I finally thought I would live, I looked up to see Max starting to serve to the other team. She was the only one on that side of the court. I guess she was supposed to be giving practice for the diggers on the other side. "Back left, with a float." Her coach directed her. Max just nodded, then spun the ball three times in her hand, tossed it up, took an approach, jumped in the air and smacked the ball directly to the back left with the ball floating back and forth...Holly shit. She. Was. Good.

The girl in the back left bumped it, but missed her aim to the setter (Alice) and hit it sideways out of bounds. She grunted and Caleah took her place. "Nice job Max. Let's see if you can take out Caleah." The coach said to Max.

"I doubt it." Max said from her side of the court, grabbing another ball from the ground, beginning to spin it in her hands.

"Ok...Right back with a drop." the coach directed once more.

"Ok. It's so on Caleah." Max said laughing a little bit.

"Bring it" Caleah said with absolute fake seriousness.

Max held the ball on her hip until Caleah ran onto the court and crouched down a little bit. Caleah was the best digger in our school. This would be good to watch.

"Just don't aim it at my face and I'll be good." Caleah said jokingly.

"Sure thing." Max said grinning. She once more threw the ball in the air, took an approach, jumped in the air, and aimed in perfectly in front of Caleah. And just as instructed, the ball dropped quickly, throwing Caleah off a little bit. Caleah dove for it and popped it in the air just barely allowing Alice to get to it and set it.

Caleah rolled over laughing a little bit and said, "Damn it Max. That was a really good serve. Did you get to it Alice?" She grunted, while she started sitting up.

"Barely. Good dive." Alice filled in rolling the ball under the net toward Max.

"Thanks."

"Caleah, just stay out a little bit. You don't really need the practice and I don't want you to hurt yourself. Ok?" Coach asked.

"Yup. No problem. I'll shag for Max." Caleah replied.

"Ya that's fine." Coach said.

Caleah jogged over to Max and gave her a low high five and just sat there and talked while their coach was rearranging the defensive side.

While all of the guys around me were still panting, I looked at Max. I would have never been able to expect that she's ever done any of those things she told me the other night. I knew there was something that was bothering her. And I can't believe that she's never told anybody else what she's done. Well...I was gonna have to tell her about me later. Great.

My thoughts got interrupted when our coach blew the whistle, and we grouped up and began actual drills.

…

I was leaving the locker room still a little bit sweaty, but at least I smelt good and had clean clothes on. I was a little bit late leaving because I didn't see anybody. I pulled out my keys as I walked out the front entrance.

I was about to enter the parking lot when I saw Max sitting on the bench with her knees pulled to her chest, trying to call somebody. When she didn't get an answer she hung up annoyed.

"Hey...what are you still doing here?" I asked starting to walk over to her with my doufle bag on my shoulder.

"Huh? Oh. Well Alice brought me here because we went to the mall together. And I told her my dad was gonna pick me up so she didn't have to drive me home...and...now he's not answering his stupid phone." She said aggravated.

"I could drive you home. It's not like you live in the same neighborhood or anything." I said sarcastically. She seemed to be trying to find an excuse to not have me drive her home. "Come on. It's really not a problem. Let's go." I reassured her.

"Ok" She said simply and walked with me to my car.

I turned on the headlights after we both climbed in, because it was so dark. Practice got out at 9 for both of us.

It was silent for a little bit. We haven't really brought up the thing from last night. But the silence wasn't awkward. It was actually kind of peaceful. "So...You didn't know what team you were going to be on? Are you freaking kidding me?" I asked, glancing away from the road at her.

"Well I'm sorry I don't really like to brag." She said with a smile.

"U huh. You just didn't want to play for this school." I said knowingly.

"Yup. You are exactly right. Just like you always are." She said like a smart ass.

That comment just got a grin from me and a roll of my eyes. "Happy I made you play?"

"You didn't make me play." She said skeptically.

"...I didn't" I said raising my eyebrows, still looking at the road.

"Oh shut up. You just pushed me in the right direction a little bit."

"Sure I did." I said smiling over at her.

"M-hm." she mumbled, leaning back in her seat closing her eyes. It was silent once more. But I liked it.

_"I picked a wishing weed, beneath your mother's tree,_

_ and I asked it, to bring you back to me,_

_ Then a dragonfly took it to the sky-" _

"Hello?" Max said answering her phone. "What? Dad? Are you-," she was cut off. Her face fell a little bit as I gave her a questioning look. "No...just stay there. Don't drive home-"... "Bye dad." She finished rudely pressing 'end' on her phone, and shoving it back into her pocket.

She sighed annoyed and aggravated. "What?" I asked her.

"Oh nothing. My dad just decide to go all the way to Richmond and get hammered." She said matter of factly.

"Is he driving home?" I asked.

"No. He shouldn't. I told him not to so he'll probably be staying in a shitty hotel or something. God he's so F-ing stupid." She sighed angrily. "I mean really. If you wand to get slammed why do you have to drive far away and do it. Why do you have to do it in the first place." Wow. She was pissed.

"He'll be fine." I reassured her.

"No I know he will be fine. He's just such a moron. He'll probably get home late tomorrow because he's gonna be afraid to come home." she said leaning back in her chair, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Just relax...It'll be fine...Are you gonna be home alone tonight then?" I asked.

"...Ya." She said still a little upset.

"Can I come hang out at you're house?"

"Um...If you really want to. But there's not a lot to do. And our house is still a little bit messy from the move." She said looking at me.

I shrugged, "I don't care. You shouldn't have to be home alone, and I don't really want to go home." I said simply. I handed her my phone, keeping my eyes on the road, "Can you text my mom and tell her that I'm going to your house for a while and to not tell my dad?" She looked at me questioningly. "I'm driving. I can text." I informed with a grin.

"...Ok. Sure." She said rolling her eyes... "Ok done." She said handing me my phone back.

"Thanks." I said. She just nodded and looked at the window. Her smile started to fade away a little bit.

"Hm, hm, hm..." I started to hum. She looked at me and her eyes lit up as she smiled brightly at me. "Hm, hm, hm.." I kept humming and tapping my steering wheel.

"No way. You know that song? Or do you just know it from my ring tone?" She asked amazed.

"Wishing Weed by Jason Reeves. Of course I know it. I have all of his CD's." I said smiling. I honestly didn't think anybody else knew about him. He was one of my favorite. I can't lie though, he does sing girly songs, but there good. "He's one of my favorites. He has the best lyrics." I said smiling at her.

"I honestly didn't think anybody else knew about him." She quoted my thoughts, still smiling.

"Ya me either." I said truthfully.

"All of my friends think he's lame. But I don't really care because he's my favorite." She said.

"Ha ha. Derik calls me girly for listening to it."

"Derik would call you girly." she said laughing. Well..I was able to cheer her up. And because of that I was put in a better mood. I looked over at her and smiled while I pulled up to her house.

"Alright, come on in." She said. She grabbed her bag from the back and we both opened the door, and ran through the rain and wind up to her porch under cover. She put her bag on the ground and searched for he key. "Shit. I don't have my key. I was expecting my dad to be here and let me in. Dammit." She sighed. "Crap."

"You don't have a hidden key?" I asked. It was poring rain the it was dark and the wind was howling. I know it's not normal California weather, but it is winter.

"No." she said exasperated. "And I've never had to break into this house before."

"Come on lets check all of the windows." I said. She nodded and be both stepped out into the poring rain and walked around the house checking for unlocked windows...None.

We both got back under the shelter of her porch and we were both soaking. She sighed, "You can go home if you want to."

"No I would rather be here soaking wet instead of at my house right now." I said truthfully. And I wouldn't leave her at her house in the middle of the night, in weather like this, locked out of her house. "I wouldn't leave you at your house like this anyways. Do you really think I would?" I asked loudly so she could here over the wind. She just shook her head and looked at me.

"I think my balcony door is open." she shouted after thinking.

"Ok. How do we get up?" I asked.

"No clue. I haven't done it before." She rubbed her bare arms to warm herself up. She started shivering. I would have given her something, but I only had on my basketball t-shirt and basketball shorts. "Come on."

We found our way to her back yard to the deck. There weren't any trees or anything near it. Fantastic. We stood next to it facing each other still in the rain. She wiped her wet hair out of her eyes, and shut her trembling lips. She put her hands on my shoulders. Without even speaking, I grabbed her waist and lifted her so she could almost reach the railing. She was only about an inch away and her shirt was riding up a little bit. I looked away and pushed her up a little bit higher and she snatched the railing and pulled herself up.

Once she got over she disappeared then returned with a thumbs up. I ran back around to the front door and waited. I took a look at myself. I was freezing. I had barely any clothes on. And. I. Was. Soaking. My clothes were pressed to my body and my hair was matted down.

Then the door flew open and I stepped inside, taking the towel Max was handing me. I shut the door behind me and it was silent, with the rain and wind sounding distant. Max instantly started drying her arms and face. She took her hair out of it's ponytail and started drying it with the towel. I did the same with my hair, face, arms and legs. I was basically dry accept my damp clothes. Max was basically dry accept her sweats. They just held the water in. She tried to walk to her room but they just squeezed water out every time she stepped. You could actually see the trail she made earlier coming to let me in.

I started to chuckle as she made it about halfway through the living room trying to get to her room, when she gave up and stopped, and just took them off. Then I stopped laughing and looked away quickly.

"It's Ok Fang. They're spandex. Everybody was wearing them earlier in volleyball." She said almost laughing at my reaction. "And I noticed that you were the only guy who wasn't drooling about it when you were in the huddle." She said still laughing.

I looked down, "That's because I'm not a pig." I said quietly.

"I noticed." She said smiling. "I'll be right back." Then she ran up the stairs and quickly returned wearing some basketball shorts and her hair up in a messy bun holding two sports blankets. Like the kind you would take to a football game or something.

"Here." She said handing me the pink one. While she kept the dark blue one. She tried to hold back her laughter.

"Hey I drove you home and helped you break into your own house." I warned with a smile on my face.

"So?" She asked wrapping her blanket around her shoulders grinning.

"Ugh." And I put the pink one around mine. She grinned at me then walked away.

"You coming?" She yelled from the next room. I didn't say anything, I just followed her. "So this is the kitchen, and the dining room. You've already seen the living room. One of the bathrooms it right down the hall to the left and my dad's room is at the end of the hall. And my room and bathroom is upstairs." She said while pointing to general directions. "...I told you there wasn't much to do at my house."

"No it's fine." I said pulling the blanket tighter around my shoulders still feeling cold.

"Let's get some food and sit by the heater in my room."

"Sounds good." I said watching her.

"Um..What do you like to eat." She asked while looking carelessly into the fridge.

"Anything...I'm not kidding. Anything." I said grinning. I am a seventeen year old boy. I am always hungry...for anything. It didn't really matter.

She believed me so she just grabbed a bag of pretzels, and some sodas. "I'm gonna run out to the car and grab my bag." I said.

"Go for it." She said starting to walk up to her room with the food. "I'll be up here." She said.

"Ok. Be right back." I said. Then I set the blanket down and sprinted to the car and back grabbing my bag. Once I got back inside I shook some new rain water out of my hair and picked up my blanket again and brought my bag upstairs.

Max was in her room picking up some clothes and throwing them into a big yellow tub. "That was fast." She said in disbelief. "I'm just cleaning up a little bit. I have clothes everywhere." She said. Then she finished flinging stuff into her hamper while I looked around her room. It wasn't really messy. There was just clothes everywhere. Her walls were light purple, and clean. She had a tack board filled with pictures of people I didn't know. She must have been popular at her old school. I don't know but that's what it looked like. She had a book shelf stuffed with books. Ha ha. Just like me. She had pictures on walls everywhere. Either of friends or just still art. She had a little hanger loaded with necklaces. But my favorite was the huge CD rack in the corner nest to her stereo. She had well over a hundred CDs. Only half were in the rack. The other half was contributed on the floor, some open, and some not.

She caught me staring and laughed as she started to turn up the heat. "Jealous?" she asked.

"Actually...ya." I said. She had so many CDs. "Can a look through them?"

"Go ahead if you want to. I still need to put them in the rack. I was trying to do it alphabetically, or else I wouldn't be able to find anything." She said sitting down next to the pile.

I came and sat next to her, and started looking through the tons of CDs. Wow. She was pretty variety. She had everything from Skillet, The Fray, Jason Reeves, Elton John, Tom Petty, Journey, T-Pain, Akon, and Taylor Swift. "I love music." She said looking at my big eyes.

"Obviously," I said. "We have got to listen to some of this." I said holding up Jack Johnson.

"Ok." She said. And put it in the stereo and took out Skillet and put it back in it's case.

"Oh my God I have to let Angel burn this." I said holding up the Spongebob soundtrack.

"Sure thing. She still watches that?" She asked. I just nodded. She laughed, "Good because so do I." She said smiling.

"I can't lie, I do watch it with her all of the time." I said grinning. 'All At Once' started to play and fill the room with music as I sat there drinking soda and looking through music.

She caught my gaze and said, "You look so flipping amazed right now."

"That's because I am. I never thought somebody could...I don't know...have such and open mind."

"You are such a nerd." She said laughing, showing perfectly white straight teeth.

I looked at her smile and smiled myself. "No I'm not. You are. Look at all of your books."

"Oh shut up. You know you want to look through those to." She said.

"Your right." was all I said before scooting to the book shelf and skimming all of her books. She had good books too. I found the patch of yearbooks and pulled them out.

"What are you interested in over there?" Max asked still sitting by the CDs putting them in the rack, eating pretzels.

"Oh nothing. Just these." I said before showing her two yearbooks. "Mind if I take a look?"

"No you're not allowed to." She said sarcastically, then looking back down at the CDs. I watched her, then looked down at her freshman year book. I opened it up and skimmed the pages. I found her class picture. She looked so much younger than she did know. She was adorable, but now she was,...a woman. Wow. Now I'm starting to sound like her father. Ok, turning the page. I found the sports section.

"You made varsity volleyball and basketball your freshman year?" I asked. "I didn't know you played basketball to."

"Ya. But I quit my sophomore year because I decided to play wreck volleyball outside of school." She said like it was no big deal.

In the picture she was smaller than everybody. Same with the volleyball team picture.

I looked for the sports section of her sophomore year book and found it instantly. She looked more grown up, and pretty.

"Do you see the blonde on my right in the picture?" she asked, still sitting by the CDs.

"...Ya."

"That's Jessica. She was my best friend in the whole world. Well...still is." She said with a little almost invisible frown.

I closed the books and put them back on the shelf as the song on the stereo changed.

"So...Are you going to talk to me about you yet?" she asked kind of shyly.

I sighed. "Sure." I scooted closer to her and ate some more food. Wow. This bag of pretzels were already almost gone. "But before I tell you, I need to let you know that I owe you a bag of pretzels."

"Ha ha. It's fine."

"Well I'm gonna get you some anyways."

She just looked at me, "Whatever." She was smiling but she looked at me curiously, waiting to start my story.

"Ok. I'm gonna tell you now. It's not as bad as yours and it's not that long."

"It's not a contest." She said slowly, taking a sip of her soda.

"Ok. Well...my mom was always the free spirit of the family. Still is. She paints and draws and all of that kind of stuff. Understand?"

"Ya. She's very open minded." she said with a hint of recognition in her eyes.

I looked at her curiously, then continued, "Ya. Well my dad is the opposite. Kind of like your parents but...different. A lot different." She just nodded. "Well my dad's a football dad. He thinks everything else doesn't even matter because football is in the world. And of course I just happen to like basketball a billion times more than football." I said.

"And he hates it that your not following what he has planned for you. He doesn't understand that you have a mind of your own." She said. She did understand more than anybody else.

"Yes. Well...what is your dad like when he drinks?" Her eyes filled with disbelief. She knew exactly where I was going.

"He didn't." She said.

"He did." I gulped and looked at her. Only Derik and my mom knew what I was about to tell her. "Well. One day during freshman year, I got home from football practice and I was home alone...I was making spaghetti on the stove or something. I was standing in front of the stove when my dad walked through the front door totally wasted. I could hear it in his footsteps. And the thing is, he had promised my mom over and over again that he would stop drinking. And when he came in like that... I was instantly pissed off. And I remember slightly arguing with him in the kitchen a little bit. But when he said something about my mom being oblivious to everything around her I just decided to piss him off even more." I stopped and took a deep breath and pulled my knees up to my chin. I looked at Max to see her expression. She looked scared.

I sighed and continued. "Well I just told him that I was quitting football. I was thinking about it a lot before that night, but I made my final decision right there with my dad standing there. And when I told him, he...he just...flipped out. He went out of his mind. He tried to tackle be kind of. He failed because I was small and he was drunk. I didn't hurt him in any way, until he just kind of held my wrists and made me lean over the stove on my back. I wish I was bigger, so I could have resisted or something. But I was only like 14. And anyways he bent by back down, forcing my shoulder to press against the burner I was using. And it stayed on there for what seemed like forever until my mom walked in and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Then I remember him letting go. But then I just fainted. It's not like the burn caused me to faint. The doctors just said it was all of the different things going in my head and overwhelming me." When I finished, there was just pure silence. Accept for the music. Max reached over and turned it off and sat back down.

She seemed to be thinking of what to say. "H...How did your dad react to what he did the next day?" She seemed angry when she asked.

"Well it was my choice to tell him the truth or not."

"The truth about what?" she asked skeptically. "How you got the burn?"

"Ya. I decided to just say I slipped in water and landed on the stove weird."

"Why wouldn't you tell him?" She asked. Seemed angry at me for a second but then it went away as she waited for an answer.

"Because if her knew then he would deny it and probably denounce me as a son. And it's not going to happen ever again because he quit. My mom literally forced him to. My mom and Derik knows what happened. Angel doesn't need to know." I took a deep breath. "But the thing that bothers me is that he can't piece together that he is the problem in the family. He didn't realize that the night I got a mysterious burn, he blacked out from being so drunk, and that he was forced the next day to quit. And not to mention how my mom was going practically insane with worry. He just can't stop and think about it a piece it together."

"So you still have a scar?" She asked.

I snorted a little bit. "Ya."

"So...I'm sorry, but I don't really know what to say." She said quietly.

"Nobody usually does." I said. "My mom didn't even know what to say."

"But...what has he done recently?" She asked.

"How do you know he did something recently?" I asked seriously.

"You said you didn't want to be home." She said simply. "Did he drink a little bit one night?"

"...Ya. And he tried to hit me."

"..."

"...So I went and threw all of his beer into the river." I said like it was no big deal, shrugging my shoulders.

"He remembers doesn't he?"

"Ya...He keeps trying to talk to me about it, but I just keep putting him off. He told me we were going to talk when I got home today. And I just need some time to think of what I'm gonna tell him."

"Maybe you should talk to him about it." She said quietly. "I wouldn't know. I've never met your dad. It's your call. But I think you should tell him that he can't do it again. Because...what if only Angel was home or something? She-"

I cut her off, "Ya that's what I'm trying to figure out." She looked a little taken aback. "Sorry." I muttered. But I meant it. I didn't mean to snap.

"That's Ok... I think you should tell him that if ever even looks at another beer then he's out. I know it would hurt your mom and Angel. But I wouldn't take the chance." She said. I looked at her. I've thought about doing that many times, but having her say it made me believe in it more.

"I think that's what I'll do." I said. I don't know how, but she seemed to put everything into perspective so easily. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." She said grinning sadly. "Well to change the subject...are you staying the night because it's already like midnight."

"Um...do you mind?" I really didn't want to go home. And I like being around Max.

"Nope. But you do have to go downstairs and eat junk food and watch some South Park with me." She said grinning and starting to stand up.

"Deal." Was all I said before we headed downstairs.


	14. Chapter 14

Max's POV:

I heard some noise so I instinctively pulled the blanket over my head. Why was I so uncomfortable? I tried to roll over but there wasn't that much room. So I lowered my blanket and blinked my eyes a little bit. I was in the living room on the couch with the TV on. Why? I attempted to stand up but I stepped on something and stumbled and crashed to the ground.

I landed kind of sideways but I was able to catch myself with my hands. I plopped to the ground on my stomach and moaned. I looked over and saw Fang grumbling a little bit in his sleep. Oh ya...

Fang stayed the night last night. It all makes sense.

He rolled over a little bit and took a deep breath slowly opening his eyes. He looked really tired. He just watched me, laying on the floor right next to him. "Why are we both on the floor?" He asked groggily. Oh God Fang. Get your head out of the gutter.

"I tripped over you." I said in a monotone.

"So that's what stepped on my stomach and woke me up." He said looking at me still tiredly. He was joking I could tell.

"Ya well I honestly forgot you were here and I tried to get off of the couch and you were in my way." I said.

"Oh. Sorry for sleeping on the floor and giving you the couch." He said grinning.

"U-hu. Thank you." I said sarcastically.

"No problem," he said, sitting up. I sat up to and yawned again, stretching my arms over my head. Then I popped all of my bones. My neck, fingers, toes, ankles, wrists, and back. It's what I did every morning.

Fang just stared at me. My dad hated it to. "My only comment is: gross." He said.

"Oh shut up, you sound like my dad...speaking of my dad...what time is it?" I asked yawning again. "How late did we stay up last night?"

"Um..the last time I looked at the clock it was like 4. So...we basically pulled an all nighter." he said, yawning halfway between his words.

I looked over at the clock on the wall. "Great. It's 2:30." … "I don't know when my dad's getting home"

"Wow. We slept through the entire day. I'm gonna go get my phone. Be right back." He said jogging up the stairs to my room.

I layed back down on the floor and stretched my body out and closed my eyes. I heard snickering and I looked up to see Fang at the bottom of the stairs shaking his head at his cell phone.

"What?" I asked, closing my eyes again.

"Oh nothing. My mom sent me a message last night saying: 'Use protection or die'." My eyes burst open and stared at Fang. He was laughing and replying.

"She doesn't think...does she?!" I asked starting to actually freak out.

"Relax Max. She's just kidding. She says that to basically every girl I hang out with." He said still chuckling.

"Ok good." I said. Because me and Fang are nothing more than friends. I was probably blushing right now so I got up and went to my room to grab my phone too.

It had a message on it from my dad. I listened to it and it basically said that he would probably be getting home at 5ish.

"Did your dad call you?" Fang asked/yelled from downstairs.

"Ya. He'll be home at around 5" I said. I really didn't want him to come home. Ugh. "I'll be down in a second." I said. I walked into my bathroom and brushed my teeth and splashed my face with water. I looked up in the mirror. Wow. My hair was falling out of its bun and was all messy. Awesome. I looked like shit. I took my hair out of the pony tail and scrunched it up. It looked messy, but it looked better than it did before. I walked back downstairs to see Fang watching TV. "Do you want anything to eat?" I asked.

He glanced at me and got up, grinning. "Do you have stuff to make pancakes?" he asked.

"Ya I'm sure we do. But I'm a horrible cook," I told him truthfully.

"That's fine. All make them." He smiled.

"If you insist."

…

Only a few minutes later, Fang was using the pan to flip the pancakes chef style. He flipped it up and landed it perfectly back into the pan. I was sitting across the bar watching him.

I whistled. "Wow. Somebody had skills."

"I make these for Angel all the time." He grinned. "And you're gonna try."

"What? I. Am. A. Horrible. Cook." I told him.

"So? You can learn."

"No I can't. I'm food impaired."

"I don't care. Come here." He ordered.

I huffed and stood up and walked around the bar counter and stood next to him. He finished that pancake and put in on a plate and started another one. I was time to flip that one and he just handed me that pan.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked.

"Just do it."

"You're just gonna get F-ed up pancakes," I mumbled. Then I attempted to flip it and only got a fourth of it back in the pan. The other three fourths landed on the stove.

"..."

"Told you." I said handing the pan back to Fang. He scooped up what he could of the pancake from the stove and finished cooking it and put it on the plate.

"Ok. Here. Try again." He said giving me the pan with a ready to flip pancake inside.

"Fang. Do you not understand? I fail at this." I said giving him an exasperated look.

"You're never gonna learn if you don't try."

"But I don't want to learn." I said.

"I want you to. So flip it." He said.

"Ugh. Fine." I said and attempted to flip it again, only to do the same thing as before.

Then he saved as much as he could and cooked it then put it on the plate.

He kept making me try over and over again. And let me tell you, my stove was a mess. We were about to the tenth pancake and the batter was gone, and he was making me flip it again.

"Oh my God," was my only response before taking the pan from him. I flipped it quickly without even thinking about it and...I DID IT!!!

"I did it!!" I shouted and smiled. He just grinned.

"Yes you did. Now put it back on the burner so it can cook," he said laughing.

"Yay!" I said still smiling brightly. I know this usually wouldn't be a big deal for people, but it definitely made my day!

…

Me and Fang sat in my room eating the ugliest pancakes I have ever seen, listening to music.

"They may look like shit, but they taste Ok." Fang said jokingly.

"Oh shut up. Thanks for helping me clean the stove." I said. He just nodded and we continued eating.

…

Fang left at about 4:30 so my dad wouldn't freak out knowing that he stayed the night. My dad's definitely the overprotective kind. It's like every guy I see will eventually be the father of my child or something. But in the past year, he's been quiet about it. Not necessarily quiet, but observing.

...Anyways, it was about 5:30 and my dad still wasn't home. I haven't heard from Fang since he left. I wonder if he was talking to his dad. I don't know. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

7:00. Are you freaking kidding me?

I was silently sitting on the couch curled up in the blankets Fang and I used the night before, doing homework. It was math homework. Easy. It got my mind off of my dad at least.

It was almost 8 when I finished my second math assignment, and I saw car headlights pull into the driveway. I put my pencil down and looked at the door, waiting. I didn't know what I was going to say...Why wasn't he coming inside? Probably terrified...or embarrassed.

A few minutes later I heard the car door open, and close, then footsteps up to the front door, then a pause. Then he opened the door slowly and stepped inside, slipping off his shoes. He looked up to see me on the couch and his face fell a little bit, while I just stared back. I honestly felt like the parent at this point. I thought I was supposed to be the one getting into trouble.

The silence just lingered in the living room. So I filled it with a huge sigh. "I'm disappointed." was all I said. Maybe he would realize that's what a parent would say, and understand that he was the father. Not me. Our parent child relationship was growing when we first moved her, but he just made it slip a whole lot.

He didn't reply as I started to shove my homework back into my bag and walked up the stairs to my room. And I wasn't gonna go back downstairs to see him so I took a shower in my bathroom and went to bed early. And it was only about 9 when I finally got into bad and curled up in my comforter. I set my alarm on my phone, and then closed my eyes.

At about 11:30 I swear I was closing my eyes for the millionth time until I got a text and my entire room lit up blue from the screen.

I reached my arm awkwardly to my bedside table to grab it and read,

_'Hey, I know you're not sleeping (and if you are then you are my hero) so meet me at the river.?'_

It was Fang. Oh good, his sleeping was screwed up to. I really wish we hadn't pulled that all nighter. It was fun but my sleeping was so messed up. So I replied,

_'Well I'm not you're hero, so I'll be there in like 4 minutes'_

I grinned as I pulled the covers off of me and looked down at my outfit. Black sweats and an 'I love NY' t-shirt. Meh...whatever. I slipped on some slippers, put my phone in my pocket, and silently slipped down the stairs, pass my snoring dad, and into the chilly night.

I walked down the neighborhood, passing the houses quickly and into the little forest. When I got there, I couldn't see him. I looked around, but I was alone. I thought he would have been here first. I walked over and began to sit down when hand abruptly grabbed my shoulder and somebody said, "Ra!"

I jumped in the air, yelped, and turned around swiftly to see humor in Fang's eyes. "I hate you." I said. "Why would you do that? You scared the shit out of me!" Then I sat down on the rocks, listening to him laugh.

"Sorry. I didn't think you would scream and have a heart attack." He said truthfully, but still chuckling a little bit. Then he took a seat next to me.

"I swear I didn't see you. Where were you?" I asked in honest curiosity.

"I'm just really quiet and really sneaky." he said glancing away at the water.

"Sure you are. Just don't do it again please? It really does scare the bejesus out of me." I said exasperated. "So...you couldn't sleep either?"

"Not a flippen wink." He replied. "Maybe that all nighter wasn't the best idea." he sighed.

"So now you don't like spending time with me?" I asked in complete sarcasm.

He seemed to understand the sarcasm but still assured me that he did. The he looked down as in he was actually thinking about it until it got a little awkward. So I changed the subject.

"So...did you talk to you're dad?" I asked.

"...Chickened out." He said truthfully.

"Well I did to a little bit. He didn't really say anything after I told him he disappointed me." I said leaning back on my hands.

He looked at me in amazement. "How the hell do you get the courage to talk to you father like that?"

"Well...I would never really say that to him just randomly. He knew he did something that really bothered me and f-ed up as a dad. So he understood that I had the right to say anything I wanted to." I told him truthfully.

"See that's the thing with your dad. He understands why you act up and talk back. Mine...just thinks it's all my problem." He said looking sideways at me.

"He'll understand one day that he's doing something...horrible." I said glancing at Fang's shoulder. "I swear he will. I did." I finished with a frown.

He quickly changed the subject which got me to smile. "Do you want to play questions?" he asked.

"What's that?" I asked still smiling at his attempt to get my mind off of what I did.

"It's just a game where somebody asks the other a question and they have to answer it. Then the person who asked the question has to answer their own question. Then it's the next persons turn. It's just supposed to be random stuff." He explained.

"Um.. sure why not?" I said grinning. "You have to go first though."

"Alright,..." he sighed, "How about...favorite color? We're starting off simple by the way." he said looking over at me.

"Um..." I actually had to think about this one, "I really think I like every color evenly. Accept silver. Not gray, but silver. If that counts?" I finished.

He laughed a little bit. "Ya it counts. So you're one of those every color persons?"

"Yup. I guess I am. Your turn." I said looking at him like I knew what the answer was.

"Ya, it's only half of what you think. It's black of course," he said eying his black hoody. "It's white to. I like black and white." he shrugged.

"So...like black and white pictures and stuff like that?"

"Ya pretty much." he said.

"Interesting. So... my turn?" He nodded. "Ok...let's see." I looked at him. "Brush or comb?" He gave me an 'are you serious' look. "Well you said random." I said, waiting for a response.

"Fine. Neither. I use my fingers."

"Brush." I was almost laughing at the look he still had on his face until he cracked a grin. "Your turn." I said hitting his shoulder.

"Fine, fine. Favorite animal?"

"Frog. No reason why. They're just cool I guess." I answered.

"Black panther." He said.

"Typical." I muttered. "Ok my turn... Um...do you want any other piercings?" I asked eying his lip ring. Since I asked and he started to play with it like a goof ball.

"Hell to the no." He answered quickly. "I like this one, but I don't want anymore."

"Do you have any other ones?" I asked actually curious.

He snorted, "First of all that's another question. Second of all, no I don't" He looked at my still curious gaze. Then answered my over all question, "I got this to piss my dad off and succeeded. But I actually like it." He said shrugging once more. "Now answer your own question."

"I just have my ears pierced, but I want my nose pierced so bad. Not a ring or anything. Just a barely visible stud. Kind of like yours." I said. Then he looked at me imaginatively.

"Actually I think that would look good on you to tell you do truth. Have you even mentioned it to your dad?" He said kind of glancing at my nose.

"First of all, thank you. And second of all, no I have not." Then I gave him a look like, 'do you think he would let me'?

He just grinned and nodded in understanding. "So...my turn...Have you played any other sports? Because I don't want another blow in the face, finding out you played varsity for something else other than volleyball and basketball."

"Yes. I used to play soccer, until it started to be the same time as volleyball. So I skipped a few practices every now and then for volleyball, and the coach basically cussed me out. So I basically told her to go screw herself, and left." I shrugged. "But that's Ok because I choose volleyball over anything else anyways." I said.

"Cool. So that coach was a bitch?" he asked. I nodded. "That sucks." he said truthfully then continued, "Well. I played soccer too, but didn't like it. And I played football and...you know." He said rolling his eyes.

I chuckled, "Ya. I know. Well it's my turn again...Um...secret hobbies?" This would be interesting.

"Snowboarding." He said simply.

"That's it?" I asked, because I could see a little secret in his eye.

"Um...tell me one of yours first." He said. Wow. He was actually vulnerable.

"Um...well a lot of people don't know this, but I think I can trust you." I said playfully. "I like to draw." I said.

His eyes lit up with a little recognition. "Oh. So that's what the paper pad was the first time I saw you?...And the reason you were in the yard?" He asked.

"Yup. You payed attention." I said smiling at him.

"So...Do I ever get to see any?" He asked hopefully.

"Nope." I said popping the 'p'. He gave me a 'why not' look and I said, "because they're secret. My dad doesn't even get to see them. It drives him insane. But it doesn't matter."

"I respect your secrecy and stuff, but...what do you draw? Plants?" He asked actually curious.

I laughed a little bit. "Sometimes. I'm not one of those people who only draw plants. I like drawling people. That's my favorite." I said truthfully. Then I leaned back on the ground looking at the stars. I was surprised that you could even see any in California.

"Don't I get to see any to actually justify your talent?" he asked.

"You're just gonna have to trust me." I said with a grin. Then he leaned down on his back next to me. "So you better tell me your other hobby. You're the one that said you had to answer."

He huffed. "Swear you won't laugh?" I nodded. "I play piano."

I started instantly, "How the hell is that even embarrassing? I wish I could play piano! Are you any good?"

"Well it's kind of secret. I only play for my mom and Angel." he said.

"Well I'll have to hear a song to justify your talent." I said with a grin at my echoing words.

I could feel him grin, "You're just gonna have to trust me." He said. "Now. What's your other one?"

"Photography."

"Really? That's neat. Do you do yearbook or anything?" he asked, interested.

"Ya. I don't love it but I like it. I like doing stuff I want. And I have to be in the mood. I don't know." I said.

"Well do you have pictures of your old school?" he asked.

"Of course. You can see them sometime if you want. There not as secret." I said with a smile.

"I do want to." He said then pulled out his phone. "Holy crap. It's past 2:30."

"No way." I said sitting back up in the dark. He followed.

"Ya. Well we should probably get home." He said sadly.

"Alright. I'll see you in like five hours." I said standing up.

He got up to and we walked through the forest back to the street. We walked as far as we both could go and stopped and waved. "Well I'll see you today." He said smiling, then stuffed his hands in his hoody pocket and put his hood up as the wind started to howl.

"Ya. See you later." I said smiling. Then we both walked separate ways.

I minute later I snuck back into my house, slipped off my slippers, and crawled into the covers. But then my phone started vibrating in my sweats pocket. I pulled it out and read,

_'Make it home safe?'_

I replied,

_'Yup. Thanks. See you today.' _

I smiled as I sent it, knowing what his reaction would be. Ha ha.

_'Sigh. :) bye.'_

He said. Then I put my phone on my night stand and rolled over, actually falling asleep.

…

My dad had to wake me up the next morning because my phone wasn't doing the trick. "Max...Max...wake up you're gonna be late." I heard my dad say. I grunted then rolled over and told him to get out. I layed there about 10 more minutes and finally got up. I was so tired.

...And late. I had about 15 minutes, so I took a 2 second shower, threw on some maskera, jeans, slippers, and a sweatshirt. Wow I looked awesome. Ha ha.

I skipped breakfast because I didn't want to see my dad and I didn't have time, and got into my car and drove to school.

Yay. Today was gonna be fun. I hope I didn't fall asleep at volleyball.


	15. Chapter 15

Fang's POV:

Let's just say that the morning after Max and I met at the river, was pretty funny. Derik and I were talking in our seats waiting for the first period bell to ring. Then Max walked in lets just say, looking very tired and took her seat.

She put her head down on the table and closed her eyes as I saw Alice start to talk to her. I guess Alice and her became good friends. Good. I knew they eventually would.

The bell rang and our teacher started her science rules speech, and then...I really don't remember. I honestly think I fell asleep. My head nodded up and down a few times, but I caught myself.

Then Derik whispered, "Dude, why are you so tired?" I just shrugged which caused him to sigh impatiently. Like I would tell him.

I looked up at Max to see her silently laughing at me, and I nodded. Then Derik interrupted out mini conversation. "Dude. What is going to with you two? Oh my God just tell me." He said annoyed.

"Nothing. Lets just say she's the reason I'm tired." I said grinning, purposely leading him to the wrong conclusion. Oh jeez. I was really trying to hold in my laughter but I think he saw it because his eyes went from, 'no flipping way' to 'I swear if you ever trip me out like that again I will kill you'.

"I hate you." he said. Then I burst out laughing. And let me tell you that the teacher didn't like that at all.

"Nicholas. Do you have anything you want to share with the class?" she said angrily. That made me laugh a little bit more.

"No" I chuckled looking over at a vary annoyed Derik.

"Ok. Then pipe down." She said angrily, then getting back into the lecture. I stole a glance at Max and she was just looking at me as if I had lost my mind. Then she looked at Derik who was looking at her then back at me. She gave me a questioning look, then returned her focus back to the class.

…

After fourth period I met Max at gym dressed down and ready for class. Today we weren't going to play in a game. We were going to partner up and play pepper. Our teacher explained to us the pepper started with a toss, then bump, set, then spike, which went back to bump and kept going.

She told us to find a partner, and I looked over at Max who was spacing out not even paying attention. After everybody started moving I walked up to her and asked, "Want to be my partner?" while holding the volleyball.

"For what?" she asked blinking out of her zone.

"Does it matter 'for what'?" I asked with a grin.

"Not really." she said standing up. "What are we playing?"

"Pepper. Do you know what it is?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I know what that is you dork." She smiled.

"Ok. Oh and I don't have knee pads on so be nice." I warned actually a little seriously.

She grinned and said, "Toss me the ball." So I tossed her the ball and bumped it right above my head for a perfect set. I set it as best as I could, which wasn't that great, and she just tapped it back to me for me to bump. I caught the ball instead and looked at her.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked.

"What?"

"You can hit harder than that. I'm not gonna cry when I get hit. It's a volleyball." I said getting ready to toss her the ball again.

"Whatever. It's gonna hurt more than you think...If you hit it." She said with a grin.

"Sure sure. Just hit it like you normally hit it." I said and tossed her the ball.

She said, "If you want." as she easily bumped it back to me. Then I set it up for her and lowered my position a little bit. And I swear she barely moved and that ball flew like a hundred miles and hour pass my hands. Wow. I completely missed the ball. I had no idea it was gonna be that... hard core.

How do girls freaking hit that? How does she hit it that hard? I turned around to go run and get the ball, wherever it went, and returned to a smiling Max. "You're supposed to move to the ball. Not away from it." She said chuckling.

I rolled my eyes. "Well I'm sorry I didn't think it was gonna be like a freaking bullet." I said.

"Do you want to try again?" she asked.

"Yes. Now I have to get at least one back to you in your reach, or it will bother me forever." I said truthfully. So I tossed her the ball. She passed it to me, I set it, and she spiked it down at me again...and I missed...again. Crap.

"Harder than it looks isn't it?" She asked. I nodded as I turned to get the ball.

After I fetched it she said. "Here. Just toss it to me in the air and put your hands down really fast, and I'll aim it at your hands. Don't move them at all. Ok?" She asked.

"Ya. Let's see how this works out." I said. I wanted to be able to do this so bad. "Wait where do I aim it?" I asked.

She laughed a little bit. "Don't think about aiming it. Just make contact." She said. "Now toss me the ball."

I tossed her the ball and put my hands into ready position. She took a step forward, glanced at my hands, then hit the ball directly at them. She hit them square on. I fest a shock of pain and the ball flew of almost horizontally to the direct left.

"Ow!" I said loudly. "Son of a-" I started to say looking down at my bright red wrists. "You hit my wrists." I said in shock, beginning to feel them burn.

"That's exactly where you're supposed to his it" She said rolling her eyes. "If I would have hit you actual hand, I would have broken something."

"That hurt." I said still in a little shock.  
"Did you think it was gonna feel good? Of course it hurt. And I'm not even jumping in the air so I don't have nearly as much power." she said starting to run after the ball I hit haywire.

She came back and asked, "Want to try again?" I just nodded.

We continued with me failing and practically breaking my hands the whole period. But during the end I got one that practically flew at Max's head, and she easily dodged it and set it perfectly into the air, slowing it's speed by 98 percent.

"I did it!" I said proudly.

"Yes you did!" she said happily. "And you look like a four year old who just learned how to shoot a basketball in one of those two foot hoops." She said smiling, while playing with the volleyball.

"As a matter of fact. I did do that when I was four thank you very much." I said grinning.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you did." Then the teacher blew the whistle and sent us to our changing rooms and I walked Max to her sixth period.

"More difficult than you thought?" she asked.

"Oh ya. You guys are freaking insane." I said truthfully with big eyes.

"So...when's your first game of the season?" she asked.

"This Friday. So no river Thursday night or I will be killed." I said.

"Fine. I guess I won't make you come out and meet me because I can't sleep." she said able to hold her laughter.

"Oh shut up. Like you weren't asleep."

"I wasn't. But still." She said.

"So when's you first game?" I asked. "Because I'm going."

"Next Wednesday." She said. "And you better not be one of those people who cheers so annoyingly that I want to shoot them." She said.

I laughed. "No. I cheer but not insanely...Derik on the other hand..."

She looked at me with wide eyes. "Derik's not coming is he?"

"Ya he is whether you like it or not." I grinned. "He usually comes to look at the girls asses."

"Figures...I don't think he can tell, but...he reakes of virginess." She said smiling.

I laughed so hard. "Oh don't ever tell him that. He would be crushed." I said truthfully. "Oh and don't worry. He won't be a pig because Angels coming. And he always has to clean up his act around her."

"Angel's coming?" She asked.

"Oh ya. She comes to every game. She's in love with volleyball. You'll see her there. Trust me."

She just nodded as we were finally separated by the warning bell. "Bye. See you later probably." She said and we went to our sixth period.

…

By Friday, the team and I were warming up in the gym, waiting for the other team to show up. This would be the first game of the season. The whole week since Monday had flown by. Basically I hung out with Max, Derik, Nudge, and Mike a lot.

School has been better since Max showed up. Not saying that it was bad before, but it was more complete. Everybody got along with her. And let me tell you that Nudge was so excited to have a girl to talk to about stuff, instead of just us guys.

Anyways, people started to show up at 7:20ish because our game started at 7:30pm. And let me tell you that the stands were gonna be full. Well at least our first game was a home game.

When the other team eventually showed up, we got on our separate side of the court and started doing drills with our coach.

Ok...to straighten this out. You might think that in guys basketball, they are vicious. And they yell and all of that kind of stuff. Well...they are. Only some of them. The guys on my team are pretty relaxed about stuff. And quiet. Including me. So when we get a team that screams plays, it annoys the shit out of us.

Anyways, it was about 7:30 and we were getting ready to play. We did one last minute huddle, and I looked up to see Max, Derik, Alice, Nudge, and Caleah sitting in the stands looking around the gym. Max was looking at me and giving me a thumbs up. I smiled and concentrated back in the huddle again.

Then the captains were called to the center, so Greg and I walked out to meet the other two guys, and shook hands. I felt Max's eyes on me as the ref talked to us. When all was silent, for the captain to talk, I heard, well everybody heard Derik scream at the top of his lungs, "YA FANG!" I glared at him over my shoulder to see Max hitting him in the shoulder telling him to shut up. He knew I hated that. Especially when it was so out of place and uncalled for. God I hate him sometimes.

I apologized to the ref and started listening again. When the ref was done, we shook hands again, then I walked back to the huddle with Greg by my side. I glared at Derik quickly in the stands, then focused back in on the huddle.

The coach made me call a cheer (Since I'm one of the captains). Ugh. So I just said, "Alcalanes on three. One. Two. Three." Then the team followed much much louder than I had said it.

Then the five starters, including me, jogged out onto the court and circled around the jumper. The ref blew his whistle and tossed the ball in the air. Dylan (Our jumper) got advantage and tapped the ball which fell right into my hands. I easily set up a play, dribbling the ball down and passing it to our wing. A few screens were set up and we scored a 2 pointer.

…

When the ref called half time, the team jogged off into the hall way to do one of our talks. What people don't know is that all we do out there is try to catch our breaths as the coach yells at us. I don't know why he was yelling because we were doing good, and the score was 48 to 37. And we were winning.

When coach was done yelling, we walked back into the gym. I readjusted my blue jersey as I shook my sweaty hair our of my eyes. Then I heard all of my friends yelling. I looked up at them and smiled. Derik was tossing popcorn in the air. Oh kill me now...

Then the game started up again, and went just as it did the first half. The final score was 94 to 78. We won. The last score was me bounce passing it to Dylan who shot it at the three point and swishing it. That was a good finish.

After high fiving the other team and gulping a water that Max threw at my head, (When the coach wasn't looking she threw it right at my face. At least I caught it. And at least she understood not to do it in front of coach.) we went to a corner of the gym and sat on the floor to have our after game talk.

We talked for probably 10 minutes, and I got up to see all of my friends still sitting there talking in the almost deserted stands. Then Angel ran up to me and hugged me. "Good job Fang! Ew you're all sweaty!" She said.

Then mom came up to me and said, "Good game sweety." Then she looked back at all of my friends. "You can come home late tonight if you want." She said smiling, then giving me a motherly kiss on the cheek.

And that caused Derik to go, "Aw Fang loves him mommy." He said snickering.

I just rolled my eyes as my mom said, "Oh shut up Derik. You wish you could get a kiss from me." My mom started laughing as all of my friends started laughing to. "Ha ha. Love you hon. See you later." She said taking Angels hand and walking out of the gym. Then she came back quickly and shouted, "Oh Derik. You're coming over for dinner Sunday."

"Sound good." Derik smiled. She gave him a thumbs up then left.

I walked over to everybody and shook my head which got everybody to go, "Eww!" I just laughed because I sprayed everybody with sweat.

"Fang that's gross." Max said, wiping her cheek then wiping her hand on her light blue sweatshirt.

We could see Mike say goodbye to his parents and came over to us. "Well...I don't want to go home. So how about we go over to Caleah's house and play x-box. I know it sounds lame, but I feel nerdy." Mike said looking at Caleah.

"Sure. I don't care. We can just hang out in my basement and be lame." Caleah said.

"Sounds good." I said. "But I need to run to the locker room and take a fast shower and change."

"And I don't know where you live Caleah." Max said. "Oh and I need to grab my jersey out of my locker so I can wash it for Wednesday."

"I can drive you to Caleah's house ounce we're done here. Then when we all get bored with Caleah," I said sarcastically. "I can drive you back here to get your car, then you can drive home."

Max shrugged and nodded.

Caleah said, "Ok then everybody else lets go. Max and Fang we will see you in a little bit." Then everybody left the gym.

Max looked at me and said, "I'll go grab my stuff from the locker room and I'll be waiting out here."

"Ok. I'll take a fast shower." I said and jogged off into my locker room.

…

After I finished a quick shower I shook out my wet hair, and pulled on a black hoody and some blue jeans. Then I shoved everything else in my locker, put on my hood, and stuffed my hands in my sweatshirt pockets and walked out.

I walked into the hall to find Max sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall texting. "Ready?" I asked.

She looked up startled, "Ya. You're so flippen quiet all the time." She said, which caused me to grin.

"Or you just weren't paying attention." I said, still walking toward her.

"Sure. So we're going to Caleah's?" She asked.

"Ya." I said as I quickly helped her off the ground and we started walking toward my car.

We walked to the dark outside and right when we opened the door, the wind hit us hard. I just clenched my arms closer to my sides as I laughed at Max trying to tame her long hair. She eventually got a hold of about half of it when we finally closed my car doors. She flipped over her shoulder and wiped it out of her face as I turned on the heater.

"I thought California was supposed to be warm?" She asked, as I started to drive.

"Ha ha. Well give us some credit. It's winter." I replied.

"Excuses." She said grinning. Then I heard her phone beep and she pulled it from her pocket and sent a text message.

"Who you texten?" I asked while turning the car to the right.

"You remember the girl from my yearbook?" She asked.

"Jessica?" I asked. I only remembered stuff when I wanted to. Trust me.

Her eyebrows rose and she said, "You remembered. You have a good memory...Ya well I haven't really talked to her since the move. So I'm kind of apologizing and filling her in on stuff. She's very interested."

"Why didn't you talk to her?" I asked finally taking my eyes from the road to look at her.

"Um...I didn't really want to talk to...anyone. At all." She said while receiving another text and looking at it.

"You talked to me." I said looking in the rear view mirror.

"Ya but...I don't know...you're different." She said looking away from her phone at me.

"How so?" I grunted and snorted at the same time.

"...I honestly don't know..." She said truthfully. Then she seemed to think about it and continued, "Well, you don't bullshit. You're straight forward I guess. And you actually listen. You're...real." She finished then looked at me and grinned. Then she went back to her text, and I looked back at the road grinning myself.

Nobody's really taken the time to compliment me like that before. I mean people always compliment me, but it was never...heartfelt and thoughtful. "Thank you." I said quietly, starting to pull into Caleah's driveway.

She just looked at me and smiled. "No problem." She knew what she'd done. She did it on purpose. Well that was fine with me. "So this is it?" she asked changing the subject.

"Yup. Ready to get owned at Halo?" I asked. She just grinned.

"Sure. We'll see." She said. Then we opened our doors and stepped out into the wind. I saw her leave her phone on the passenger seat purposely and we both jogged up to the porch. I knocked and I barely hear Caleah's mom yell, 'come in Fang'.

So I walked in and held the door open for Max, and closed it behind her. We slipped off our shoes and Mattie (Caleah's mom) stepped into view and said, "Oh hi Fang! So this must be Max? I've heard a lot about you! I hear you're a food addition to the volleyball team. Trust me I heard all about it from Caleah." She said smiling.

Max's smile instantly turned shy. She hated it when people talked about her talents. Well...I'm no different.

Mattie saw it and said, "Well everybody's downstairs. And I'm going to a friends so you guys can be as loud as you want. There's food in the fridge if you get hungry." She said smiling brightly. "It was nice to meet you honey. I'm sure I'll see you again. Bye guys." She said. After Max and I gave little waves she left out the front door.

When all was silent I said, "Gotta love Caleah's mom." She smiled and we found our way downstairs.

When we reached the bottom step, we saw people standing holding controllers, and screaming. Derik was probably owning again and making everybody mad. Ya I know. It was Friday night and we were all in a basement playing slayer on Halo. It sounds nerdy, but we had spent the best time of our lives down here.

Oh and Derik was the best. Nobody has beaten him. Accept that one time where Alice literally closed her eyes and shot for a minute straight. Derik's face after dying was the funnest thing I have ever seen in my life. That night was pretty epic.

**(AN: For the people who don't know what slayer is on Halo. It's when everybody has to try and kill each other using Halo characters on the video game x-box or x-box 360. And I'm not an x-box freak but I do play. And it gets flippen epic. Just thought you might want to know :))**

When we walked all the way into the room they all looked over, smiled and shouted 'hi'. "Is Derik owning?" I asked.

They all nodded starting to pay attention to the game again, and Nudge said, "Yes." She rolled her eyes and shoved the controller into Mike's hands. Then she made room on the couch. We shoved into the empty space. It was cozy, but not uncomfortable.

When they finished that game of slayer, with Derik winning, Alice and Caleah gave Max and I there controllers. So now playing was me, Max, Derik, and Mike.

The new game was about to start when Derik paused it and asked Max if she knew how to play. She nodded and said, "I'm a little rusty though."

"That's fine." Derik said and we started the game. Derik sniped me instantly.

"Derik." I groaned and leaned back on the couch waiting to respond. But once I did, I killed Mike and he groaned to.

I was running to get a gun through a field when Mike said, "Watch out Fang, Max is right behind you."

Then Max yelled, "Stop screen peaking you jerk." Then she killed me. Then she killed Mike.

"Hey. That's not nice." I said referring to her killing me and Mike. "Derik where are you?" I asked because I haven't seen him yet.

"Oh just welcoming Max into the game." He said grinning. He was going to slaughter her.

I looked up to Max's screen and watched Derik come around the corner. And let me tell you. There were guns fired everywhere, hitting with guns, and grenades everywhere. And Max killed him. Everybody stopped and stared at her. "What?" She asked innocently.

I looked at her with raised eyebrows. Well we all did actually. "You are my God. You are so good!" I said in disbelief. Then everybody accept Derik gave her high fives and cheered.

"Finally some competition!" Derik said actually looking excited. "Where did you learn to play?" He asked.

"Oh one summer my friend Clair stayed over for like a week and we pulled all nighters almost every night playing Halo. And we beat 1, 2, and 3 on hard. We were so bored. We just wanted to so we could say we did." She shrugged.

"Awesome." Everybody basically said. Then we continued to play for hours with Max and Derik killing us all the time.

It was about 2 in the morning and we were still playing. We took brakes to eat and talk, and switched players of course.

We were playing another game when I saw Max coming to kill me. So I basically sat on her lap and awkwardly found a way to block her eye sight from the screen. "No Max!" I yelled laughing.

"Fang get off!" She laughed trying to push me off, and failing miserably.

"Oh am I heavy?" I asked, still laughing. "YES!" I yelled and slid off. Then she looked at the screen to see that I had actually killed her. Ha ha.

She was straitening out her shirt when she stared at me grinning and said, "You suck." But when she said it you could tell she was trying not to laugh, and we eventually all got back into the game.

…

It was almost three when we left. Max and I said 'goodbye' to everybody who was still at Caleah's house and ran out to the car. We got in and I cranked up the heater and started to back out of the driveway.

I looked over at her in the passenger seat. She was looking at a text from Jessica sent a while ago, I could tell, but instead of replying she pressed the 'end' button. Then she looked over at me and smiled, and shoved the phone in her pocket. She looked happy.

"So did you have fun at our nerdy Halo night?" I asked cracking a smile.

"I actually did. And I'm excited to go home and sleep." She sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"I'm glad you gave it a chance." I said truthfully.

"I'm actually happy I moved here. I mean I still miss home of course. But I didn't know I would make new friends like you guys. I really didn't." She said looking out the window and smiling.

"Well I'm happy your here." I said. She continued to smile. And the rest of the drive was silent after that. But it was comfortable.

When I drove into the school parking lot, she grabbed her stuff from my car and looked at me. "Thanks for bringing me... and driving me." she smiled.

"Ha ha. No problem. You're welcome anytime. They all love you if you haven't noticed." I said jokingly, but truthfully.

"Ha ha. Thanks. I'll see you at practice later today. It is 3am on Saturday." She smiled.

"Bye. See you later." I said. Then she got out of my car and ran to hers and jumped in.

She gave me one last smile and drove off, leaving me smiling too.


	16. Chapter 16

Max's POV:

I slept in until almost 3pm on Saturday until I got a text from Fang saying,

_'Do you want a ride to and from practice today?'_

I think I fell back asleep for 5 minutes before I replied,

_'Ya that will be awesome. Thanks'_

He replied,

_'Were you still sleeping?'_

I smiled as I replied,

_'Ya but I'm getting up now'_

Then he said,

_'Ha ha. I know because Angel came in jumping on my bad like 10 minutes ago waking me up'_

Then I said,

_'Did she tickle you?'_

She probably did. He might admit it. Then he said,

_'...Ya. I'll be there a little bit before 6:30. Sound good? I gotta go and eat some food. My mom's yelling at me saying I'm gonna starve myself. Bye.'_

I smiled then replied,

_'Sounds good. See you then...p.s. Angel rules :)'_

After I sent the message I rolled out from under the covers and took a quick shower. When I got out, I heard my dad on the phone downstairs, so I went back into my room quietly in my towel, so he wouldn't know I was awake. We hadn't really talked about his whole drinking thing yet. Actually we hadn't talked at all. Well last night I texted him telling him 'don't wait up' just so he didn't think I was kidnapped or something. He didn't reply either because he probably didn't know what to say.

When I got into my room I changed in to my volleyball stuff early, (Some black sweats and a t-shirt) then sat on my bed and did almost 3 hours of homework until I hear a car pull in a little bit later than 6:30.

Since Fang was running a little bit late I just decided to grab my shoes and stuff and run out to his car until my dad stopped me when I was going out the door. "Who is that?" He asked protectively.

"Fa-Nick." I said. Wow. That's like the first thing he's said to me in a week. And maybe he would like him more if I called him by Nick more often than Fang.

"Is that the Fang kid who was in the front yard that one day?" he asked. He's asking more questions than I expected.

"Ya. That's him." I said lingering by the door. He could tell I needed to get out there. And I could tell he didn't exactly want him driving me. He didn't know him at all. So I reassured him by saying the truth. "Dad he's fine. Trust me. I hang out with him all the time. He's a straight 'A' student. And he played varsity basketball, so you know he's not allowed to go out and party and stuff like that. And he's just a friend." I said quickly. He didn't say anything so I added, "I promise."

"Fine. Be careful." He said a little rudely. I didn't even respond. What had gotten into him? Why couldn't he just not have said anything?

"Whatever." I said before running out the front door and quickly getting into Fang's car.

"Hey." I said.

I guess I had a little bit of harshness in my voice, because he looked at me questioningly and said, "I'm sorry I'm late." He looked actually sorry.

"Wh-what? No Fang. I'm not mad at you. My dad's just being an ass." I said sighing.

"Oh. Well mine is to." He said, starting to drive onto the main road.

"Did you tell him?" I asked forgetting about my own dad's problems.

He kept looking at the road and said, "No. Not yet anyways. He was just being mean to Angel for no reason so I stood up for her, got yelled at, then dropped her off at her friends house down the street. Then I came to get you." He sighed and leaned back in his chair while driving and continued. "He's just being a dick. I swear, I just want him gone. I can finish growing up without a dad. It's not like he did that much anyway." He said.

I could see his jaw twitching a little bit. Then his eyes looked sad. So I said, "Well my dad hasn't talked to me for a week, and decides to do so right when I'm coming out to get in the car with you." I said annoyed.

His eyes went from sad to humored. "It was about me wasn't it?" He asked knowingly.

"No." I answered quietly, looking away out the window.

He chuckled. "Sure it wasn't. I believe you..." he said sarcastically.

The rest of the ride went quietly until we got to the school and got out of the car. When we were walking through the parking lot he asked, "Is is the lib ring?" while laughing.

"Oh shut up." I said rolling my eyes and continuing to walk.

"I'm just kidding you know that." He said still grinning. I finally stopped walking and turned to glare at him with crossed arms, while the wind howled through my hair. But he couldn't keep the smile off of his face. "...does he think we're _doing_ stuff?" He asked starting to laugh all over again.

I just grunted/groaned as I turned and walked into the building. I thought in my head, 'Oh my God. He's not a sexist pig like Derik is he?'

"Max!" He yelled...still laughing. "I'm kidding I'm kidding." He said running up next to me to catch up. "I'm done I swear. I was just getting as much as I could get out of it." He said.

"Obviously." I said annoyed. And..I was honestly trying not to crack a grin.

"Oh come on. You know it's funny. And know I'm not like Derik at all if that's what you were thinking." He said. Wow he could read me good.

"Fine. You're forgiven. And it was a little bit funny. Just a little bit. But if _my dad _actually talked to you about _it_ then it wouldn't be that funny would it?"

"No...it will just be weird and gross." He said truthfully.

"Ok. So are you done?" I asked.

He smiled one last time, then wiped the smile from his face and took a deep breath and said, "Done."..."Promise."

"Ok. Now let's go to practice." I said, and he nodded.

**(AN: Oh and for you people out there, they aren't doing _it_. They're friends...for now...but you're not supposed to know that.) **

After practice Fang drove me home. We parked in the parking lot and sat there.

I look a deep breath eying my dad's car. Ugh. He was home. "Well...Good luck with you're dad because I know I'll need it." I said.

"Ya...looks like it. Well good luck." He said grinning looking out the window shield.

"Ugh. I thought you said you were _done_." I said already starting to get annoyed.

"I am done." He said defensively, but still with a grin on his face.

"Then what are you smiling at?" I asked.

"Oh nothing. Just your dad attempting to spy on us behind your living room window." He said with humor in his voice. Then he looked over at me, then back to where he was looking before. I followed his gaze and, sure enough, my dad was standing behind the window watching us.

I dropped my head in my hands and groaned. Then Fang said, "Oh come on it won't be that bad."

Then I got a thought and said, "No it won't be." Then I got out of the car and walked to the drivers door and opened it, leaned over, unbuckled Fangs seat belt and started to pull him out of the car.

"What are you doing?" He asked in shock.

"Oh nothing. Trust me. It won't be that bad." I said almost smiling, and struggling to pull him out of the car. Lets just say he's a lot stronger than me. A lot.

And if it weren't for my dad coming out on the porch and asking, "What are you two doing?", then Fang wouldn't have gotten embarrassed and frozen in his place.

I murmured to Fang, "Make him hate you forever by jumping back in your car and speeding away, or get a chance by getting out, acting like a gentleman, and introducing yourself."

He seemed to think about it for a second, then unfroze and fully stood up, which got a smile from me. He straightened out his shirt, closed his car door, and walked up the steps slowly to my curious father. He honestly seemed scared.

When Fang and I reached my dad, we just stood there quietly side by side. I watched my dad look Fang head to toe then set his gaze on me.

I cleared my throat and said, "Um. Dad this is Nicholas." I decided to use his full name.

"I thought it was Fang?" My dad asked snobbishly. I just blinked because I was taken aback. Did my dad really just act like that? I just blinked at my dad expectantly. And he saw the 'what the hell is the matter with you?' look in my eyes and sighed apologetically. He put a smile on his face, and held his hand out. Fang took it firmly and shook it. Then my dad said, "It's nice to meet you Fang."

"It's nice to meet you too sir." Fang replied grinning shyly.

I rolled my eyes as my dad said, "Please call me Will."

"Will," Fang corrected. "And you can call me anything but Nicholas." He said eying me.

My dad seemed to notice because he chuckled. "So, Fang what does your mom call you?"

"Fang," Fang responded.

"And your dad?" He asked.

"Nicholas." Fang said and I saw the slight twitch in his jaw again. My dad noticed it too.

"Ah." My dad said while thinking. I think he understood it all from there. Fang didn't get along with his dad. My dad looked at me secretly for confirmation, and I just slightly nodded.

My dad got the picture and changed the subject. I'm not gonna say he changed it to a better subject, but definitely another subject. "So...what exactly are you to my daughter?" He asked. Oh here we go.

Fang's jaw loosened as a tiny tiny hint of laughter entered his eyes. Only I could see it. 'Oh shut up', I groaned in my head.

"Friend. _Just_ friends." Fangs said, that last part just for me. 'Thank you.' I thought.

"M-hm," my dad nodded, still thinking. Ok my dad was usually right about stuff, but not this. Why wouldn't he believe us? We weren't lying.

"..." awkward silence because my dad was still thinking.

"So...you play basketball?" My dad asked and Fang looked at me smiling.

"Yes I told him Fang." I said.

"...Ya. I play." Fang said shyly to my dad.

"Well are you any good? Basketball's by favorite sport." My dad said.

Fang stayed silent so I answered, "Ya. He's varsity captain." I said.

"One of the captains." Fang added quickly.

I just rolled my eyes and continued, "He's been on varsity since he was a freshman, and he's point guard." When I finished my dads eyes were big with awe, but Fang's were big in, 'why did you have to tell him all of that?'. So to answer Fang's eyes I said, "Well you could have told him yourself. And if you did, you could have left out the part that you scored 32 points in the last game."

Fangs eyes got even bigger. Then he said, "I didn't even know that."

"Ya well I kept track." I said.

"She's a math person." My dad interrupted. "So 32? I think I'm gonna have to come to one of your games. When's your next one?" My dad asked interested.

"Next Friday." Fang said shyly again.

"Home or away?" My dad asked.

"Home" Fang said.

"Well I'll think I'll have to go. Did you know Max used to play basketball?" he asked.

"Ya, I heard that." Fang said looking at me. I smiled.

"But she quit because she wanted to play competitive volleyball. She was good to." Dad said looking at me.

"Yup." I said.

"She almost didn't play volleyball this year either. Thank God somebody talked her into it." Dad said thankfully. Fang's eyes lit up as he looked down at me. My dad noticed and asked, "Was that person you Fang?"

Fang just nodded, and my dad smiled brighter. "Thank you." He said truly. His entire mood had been turned around after 2 minutes talking to Fang. "It's getting dark...Well it was really nice meeting you. You are welcome over any time! I mean it. Unless it's like sneaking in, in the middle of the night then it's not Ok." My dad finished.

Fang grinned at that and almost started laughing I could tell. Fang and my dad shook hands again and said goodbye. Then my dad went inside, so Fang said, "That went well."

"Ya. I didn't tell you my dad's a huge basketball fan did I?" I asked, smiling.

"No you didn't mention that." He said with big eyes.

"Relax. He likes you." I reassured.

"Because I play basketball?" He asked.

"No. Well that's one thing. And because you got me to play volleyball again, and you got courage and got out of the car to go meet him." I said truthfully. "And because you're my friend."

He raised an eyebrow. "So I'm a golden friend?" He asked with a grin.

"Ya basically. Your only downfall is that you're a guy." I said obviously.

He laughed. "Isn't that what it usually is for girls?" he asked.

"Ya."

He laughed again. "Well I'll see you Monday if not before that." He started heading off the porch. "Bye Max" She smiled and waved as he ran of into the dark to his car.

"Bye Fang" I replied, and walked into the house smiling. I looked up to see my dad standing there.

He sighed and then said, "Just wait." Then he started walking to his room.

"Wait dad...are we gonna talk about this drinking thing?" I asked with my heart beating a little bit harder.

He stopped, turned, and said, "Nope. You said you were disappointed and I agree because so am I . I'm disappointed in myself. And I'm never gonna do it again." He said with a sad smile. "It's not fair to you."

"Ok." I said quietly with a small smile. I believed him. "Goodnight dad." I said.

Then he came over and kissed me on my forehead, half hugged me, and said quietly, "Goodnight Max."

He was acting so fatherly. I hugged him back.

And I don't think I've hugged my dad in over 2 years.

…

Well it was Wednesday and it was game day. I was excited. And I wasn't nervous. I usually wasn't anyways.

We were in a circle doing our stretches when people started showing up. My dad was already there with the other parents. He was sitting next to Fang's mom talking. Angel wasn't there so I guess she was coming with Fang. And I hope Fang was bringing food. I texted him but I don't know if he got it.

Fang walked in with Angel, Derik, Mike, and Nudge. When the coach wasn't looking I sprinted over to him and he quickly handed me some food and I shoved it in my mouth and sprinted back to the circle, attempting to say "Thank you."

When I actually chewed the food in my mouth I realized they were those sliced apples that come in a baggie. When Fang got in the stands with everybody and I finished chewing my food, I looked at him, smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He smiled back. Then I noticed he was wearing a blue sweatshirt. School colors. What a change.

Ok I was so hungry because it was almost 7:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch or anything until then. I was starving. But now I was Ok.

We finished stretching so we started to play pepper with the whole team in one line. It was a better warmup because once you hit it, you had to run to the other line to hit it back again. And so on and so forth.

Anyways we were in line and my teammate bumped it to me, to I set it back to the next person in line. Alice. Since I set it, she had to spike it, and she did. Just horribly though. Alice made a silly face as Caleah (the next player in the opposite line) attempted to dive for it. But it was so far away she didn't even have a chance.

Even the coach laughed with Alice. Then Alice said, "and that is why I am the setter." Then the whole team laughed.

We played pepper for a little longer, and then we did down balls. Then coach asked, "Max can I get your passes done really quick so you can spike down the ball to them?"

"Ya." I said. Then I stepped into the middle of the court and she spiked a ball at me as hard as she could and I hit it perfectly to the ball shagger. I did probably 5 more of those until I took the coaches spot.

I stood next to the basket of balls and started spiking them down at my teammates easily to warm up my arm.

"This is just a warm up ladies. She's gonna progress as her arm warms up." Coach warned.

I went through the line twice and my arm was fully warm. So I said, "Ok guys, they're gonna by harder. I'm warmed up."

They all nodded as I fully spiked them down. The girls were getting to them but they were missing the shagger my a lot. Even Caleah, our best passer, missed the shagger. And I laughed and said, "Nice job Caleah."

She turned around and smiled. "That one hurt. And it had spin. Ow." She faked wined. I just grinned and continued to hit down balls at the girls.

Once we were done doing that, we set up for serve practice. That went be fast and easy, and it was game time. That meant I actually had to take my sweats off. Ugh. I will kill Derik if he says anything.

I ran over to the chair and slipped them off revealing my spandex underneath, and pulled my knee pads up. I glared playfully at Derik really fast as a warning, then ran onto the court.

We had first serve and I was first server, so I went behind the line and pressed my back fully against the wall. People were cheering until the ref blew the whistle. Then it was silent. I spun the ball three times in my hand then tossed it up, took an approach, jumped in the air, and hit the ball. It floated, faking the back row out and causing them to miss it completely. "ACE!" my team cheered.

More people cheered. I could distinctly make out my dad and Fang's voice. I smiled and took a deep breath and did the exact same thing.

That lasted for a while, and I got us 11 points until the line ref called one out. There were a lot of "boos" called from the stands, because it was in, but we were dominating right now so I didn't really care.

The other team got the ball and served it over. Caleah bumped it right to Alice, and Alice set it outside to me and I jumped in the air and spiked it. I hit it to an empty spot and we got the point.

The rest of the game went like that basically. I layed out twice (diving on the floor to get the ball.) to get the ball up in the air successfully. I did. And Caleah had to do the same, and she did it also successfully. By the end we won both two games, so we didn't have to play the third.

When we were done I was all sweaty (so was everybody else) and we went and high fived the other team. Then we went in the corner of the gym and talked as a team. Our coach said that she like the way we played as a team, and after seeing us play in a game, she thinks we have a good chance at state.

When our huddle was done, I walked back to my bag of stuff and slipped my sweats on over my shoes. That was more difficult than pulling them off with shoes on. As people were leaving the stands and starting to talk to the players, I almost fell over because my shoe got caught on the elastic at the bottom of my sweats. I tried to hop to keep my balance, but that didn't work until somebody grabbed my shoulders from behind and steadied me.

I didn't know who it was so I hurried even more to get my sweats on and get my balance...which just cause me to stumble even more. So the person tightened there grip a little bit and said, "Relax. It's just me."

It was Fang. I calmed down and easily finished putting on my black sweats and balanced myself again. Then Fang let go, and I turned around so see him smiling.

"Thanks." I mumbled slipping my doufle bag onto my shoulder.

"No problem. Paranoid much?" He said grinning. I just rolled my eyes and he continued, "Come on. Everybody's waiting."

Then we walked over to where all of my friends were gathered, and they gave me, Alice, and Caleah high fives. We started talking a little, then Fang's mom and Angel walked over.

Fang's mom said, "Nice game girls. State this year? You got a pretty good addition to the team." She said eying me.

Then Fang jumped in, "Oh mom this is Max." he said nodding to me.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh. You're Max. I've heard a lot about you. Not only from Fang but everybody else to." She said nodding towards everybody else in the group. They all talked about me? They were like one huge family of best friends. Parents and all. I liked it.

"Hi. It's nice to meat you." I said starting to see the resemblance in Fang and his mom. She had blonde hair, so that means he got his dark hair from his dad. But he did get her nose, and grin from her. Her eyes were blue like Angels and open and happy. And her smile was bright.

She noticed me looking at both her and Fang and she said, "Ya. We look alike quit a bit don't we?" she asked smiling.

I nodded shyly, then she continued. "So I hear Fang met your dad. Is he here because I would like to meat him to." She said.

"Um ya...he's...there he is. I'll go get him." I said. Then I ran off to get him and brought him back to the group. Everybody was smiling. "Dad this is Fang's mom..." I said waiting for her to fill in her name because I didn't know it yet.

"Debbie." She said holding out her hand. They shook hands and I continued.

"Mike, Nudge, Caleah, Alice, Derik, and Fang's little sister Angel." I said.

My dad smiled and said hello to each of them. Since the hug on Saturday night, he had been happier. We were finally starting to get along again. And, yes, I told Fang everything that happened after he left, over the phone later the same night.

We all started talking again. Then Angel asked sweetly, "Can we get in a circle and just play with the volleyball? Please?"

I nodded and Fang said, "Ya I'll got get a ball." When he came back the kids (us) got into a circle and just started hitting the ball, trying to keep it in the air. The guys and Nudge had no idea what they were doing to basically Alive, Caleah, Angel, and I had to do all of the work and recover all of there horrible shots.

I was laughing until I noticed my dad and Debbie. They walked off a little bit and were talking. Fang noticed to and he looked over. They just kept talking and looking from me to Fang, then talking again. Were they talking about us?

The gym was practically cleared when they walked back over to us, smiling.

What did they talk about?

…

On the drive home from my game I turned to my dad and asked, "What were you and Debbie talking about?"

I could tell he was caught a little off guard, then he said, "Oh she realized that you were becoming really close to everybody in the group and she just wanted to kind of welcome us into the...family...i guess." He shrugged.

"That's only part of it isn't it?" I asked.

He shrugged and said, "We were just talking about you two a little bit. I talked about you a little bit and she talked about Fang a little bit...That's basically it." He said untruthfully. My dad was a horrible liar. Me on the other hand....

That's not what they talked about. I knew it. But maybe it wasn't any of my business, so I wouldn't push it. "Ok." I said, pretending to believe him when I honestly didn't at all.


End file.
